•\, 


•^. 


^ 


t-'Lt* 

''^%  % 

^1\  \  X 


1  1 

'7 


THK 


STORY   OF    THE    REGIMENT. 


JJY 

WILLIAM   HENRY  LOCKE,  A  M., 

CHAPLAIN. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.    B.    LIPPINCOTT    &    CO. 

1868. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  tlio  year  1807,  by 
J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  &  CO., 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


.s 


In  compliance  with  current  copyright 

law,  U.  C.  Library  Bindery  produced 

this  replacement  volume  on  paper 

that  meets  ANSI  Standard  Z39.48- 

1984  to  replace  the  irreparably 

deteriorated  original 

1998 


TO    THE    LIVING    OF    THE 


OLD  PENNSYLVANIA  ELEVENTH, 


AND  TO   THE 


OF      ITS      MANY     GALLANT     DEAD, 

THIS  VOLUME 


PREFACE. 


THE  first  object  sought  in  this  volume  is  to  put  on 
permanent  record  the  deeds  of  a  brave  and  noble  regi 
ment — an  effort  that  will  be  fully  appreciated  by  its 
numerous  friends.  The  author  also  designs  that  it 
should  be  a  contribution  to  the  general  history  of  the 
war.  To  secure  such  a  history,  the  story  of  each  sep 
arate  regiment  must  first  be  known. 

The  duties  of  the  writer  did  not  require  him  to  carry 
either  sword  or  musket,  and  the  story  he  here  tells  is 
made  up  from  a  note-book  never  absent  from  him, 
whether  in  camp  or  on  the  march.  When  the  original 
record — sometimes  made  during  a  halt  along  the  road 
side,  and  sometimes  in  the  midst  of  battle — better  tells 
the  story,  that  record  is  inserted,  day  and  date. 

Everything  promising  to  throw  light  upon  the  cam 
paigns  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  has  been  carefully 
read  and  freely  used,  in  giving  the  reasons  for  certain 

(v) 


VI  PREFACE. 

movements  and  the  ends  to  be  secured.  It  was  the 
fortune  of  the  Eleventh  Regiment  to  be  connected  with 
most  of  the  principal  operations  of  the  army  to  which 
it  belonged.  Enough  of  general  information  is  there 
fore  given  to  form  a  continuous  narrative  of  events  ; 
and  to  the  ordinary  reader  perhaps  the  book  will  be 
found  to  serve  the  place  of  a  larger  and  more  protend 
ing  history  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

W.  H.  L. 

PITTSBURG,  October  1,  1867. 


CONTENTS 


I. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Rebellion  armed  and  defiant — Call  for  troops — Eleventh 
Regiment  organized 13 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  offensive — Guarding  the  railroad — Patterson  on  the 
Upper  Potomac — March  into  Virginia — Battle  of  Falling 
Waters — Pennsylvania's  first  killed — Martinsburg 16 

CHAPTER  III. 

McDowell  and  Patterson  to  co-operate — Army  delayed — 
The  runaway  slave — Reconnoissance  to  Winchester  — 
Charlestown— Battle  of  Bull  Run 26 


II. 

CHAPTER  I. 

The  rebellion  in  a  new  phase — Re-enlistment — From  citi 
zen  to  soldier — Filling  up  regiments — Quarrel  about  the 
number — Governor's  order — Field  and  staff 35 


CHAPTER  II. 

From  Pennsylvania   to   Maryland — Through    Baltimore — 

Annapolis — Northern  arguments — Master  and  slave 42 

(vii) 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Side  issues  of  the  conflict — The  iron-clad  Merrimac — The 
subdued  domestic — Washington — Review  by  the  Presi 
dent 51 

CHAPTER  IV. 

From  Maryland  to  Virginia — Manassas — Midnight  alarm — 
Clerical  captive 57 

CHAPTER  V. 

Manassas  and  environs — Bull  Run  battle-field — White 
Plains — Absconding  darkies 65 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Marching  southward — Hartsuff's  Brigade — Falmouth — Mc 
Dowell's  Corps — Fredericksburg — A  night  march — Alex 
andria — Pursuit  of  Jackson — Front  Royal — Belle  Boyd 
— Escape 72 


III. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Pope's  campaign — Warrenton — Waterloo — Arrival  of  Pope 
— Review — Army  of  Virginia — Culpepper — Battle  of  Ce 
dar  Mountain — Advance  to  the  Rapidan 82 

CHAPTER  II. 

An  opportune  capture — Retreat  to  the  Rappahannock — 
Culpepper  greetings — Fight  at  Rappahannock  Station...  93 

CHAPTER  III. 

Pope  retreating  northward — Company  G — Battle  of  Tho 
roughfare  Gap — Hospital  at  Manassas 100 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Second  Bull  Run — Porter  disobeys  orders — Longstreet 
unites  with  Jackson — Division  on  the  left — Losses  in  the 
Eleventh — Retreat  to  Centerville— Battle  of  Chantilly — 
Within  the  fortifications — Pope  and  McDowell IOC 


CONTENTS.  IX 


IV. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Hall's  Hill— Colonel  Martin — Maj.  Frink— Colonel  Fletcher 
Webster — Invasion  of  Maryland — McClellnn — Feeling  of 
troops — March  through  Washington — Recruits  from  Har- 
risburg — Battle  of  South  Mountain 115 

CHAPTER  II. 

McClellan  and  Lee  on  Upper  Potomac — Rebel  chaplain 
— Keedysville — Battle  of  Antietam — HartsuiFs  Brigade 
— Fighting  on  the  right — Scenes  in  hospital — Antietam 
after  the  battle 123 

CHAPTER  III. 

Army  in  repose — Walnut  Grove  camp — Foraging  for  the 
mess — Louisiana  vs.  Virginia — Sermon  in  camp 134 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Tent  life  in  Maryland — Night  experiences — Stuart's  cav 
alry  raid — Dreams  and  visions 146 


V. 

CHAPTER  I. 

McClellan  superseded  by  Burnside — Feeling  in  the  army — 
Campaign  begun — On  the  Rappahannock — Bombard 
ment  of  Fredericksburg — Across  the  river 152 

CHAPTER  II. 

Fredericksburg — Night  before  the  battle — December  13th 
— Operations  on  the  left — Pollock's  house — Burying  the 
dead 161 

CHAPTER  III. 

After  the  battle — Wounded  in  Washington — Excitement  in 
the  city — Burnside — Camp  near  Fletcher  Chapel — Notes 
from  diary — Virginia  schoolmaster — Northern  claim  on 
Virginia 168 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Burnside  to  cross  the  Rappahannock — Troops  in  motion — 
Winter  storm — Army  in  the  mud 


VI. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Burnside  gives  place  to  Hooker — Organized  desertion— -A 
new  bill  of  fare — Army  kept  employed — Improved  con 
dition  of  the  troops — Preparations  to  march 184 

CHAPTER  II. 

Chancellorville  campaign — First  Corps  on  the  left — Into 
the  Wilderness — Jackson's  flank  attack — Death  of  Jack 
son — First  Corps  on  the  right — Retreat  from  the  Wilder 
ness....  ,.  193 


CHAPTER  III. 

After  the  battle  of  Chancellorville — Feeling  among  the 
troops  —  Revelations  of  old  letters  —  Division  reorgan 
ized — General  Baxter  —  Marching  northward — Across 
Manassas  plains 205 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Hooker  and  Lee — Moseby — Parting  with  Virginia — First 
Corps  at  Emmettsburg 215 


VII. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Hooker  displaced  by  Meade — Impression  on  the  Army — 
Enemy  in  front  of  Gettysburg — First  day  of  July — Rebels 
quartered  in  the  town 223 

CHAPTER  II. 

Armies  concentrated  at  Gettysburg — Second  day  of  July — 
Third  day  of  July — July  Fourth 233 


CONTENTS.  XI 


CHAPTER  III. 

Gettysburg  under  rebel  rule — A  rampant  quartermaster — 
First  Corps  on  Cemetery  Hill — Pickett's  charge — A  bold 
pioneer 240 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Retreat  and  pursuit — Bulletins  of  victory— Vandals — The 
lost  found — Lee  across  the  Potomac 247 

CHAPTER  V. 

Marching  through  Loudon  Valley  —  Battle-field  of  An- 
tietam — An  unamiable  lady — Fording  Goose  Creek — 
White  Plains — Bealton  Station — Fight  at  Brandy  Station 
— Eleventh  on  Hartsuff's  knoll 255 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Occupying  the  line  of  the  Rapidan — Substitutes — Raccoon 
Ford — Execution  of  a  deserter — Reading  the  enemy's 
signals — Kelly's  Ford — Raid  on  the  sutlers — Retreat  to 
Centerville — Mysterious  movements 267 

CHAPTER  VII. 

From  the  Rapidan  to  Centerville — First  Corps  at  Bristow — 
Bull  Run — Reprieved  deserter — Bull  Run  battle-field — 
Detected  conscript — Thoroughfare  Gap — Camp  rumors..  277 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Back  to  the  Rappahannock — Eleventh  at  Morrisville — 
Across  the  river — Bivouac  on  Auburn  farm — Alarm — 
Camp  near  Liberty  —  Guerrillas — Adventures  of  the 
wounded — An  outside  patient 288 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Mine  Run  Campaign — South  of  the  Rapidan — In  position 
on  Mine  Run — Marching  back — Short  rations — Kelly's 
Ford 303 

CHAPTER  X. 

Another  campaign   completed  —  Faith  of  the  army  —  Re- 
enlisting — Veteran  furlough 314 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

VIII. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Lieutenant -General  U.  S.  Grant — Furlough  ended — Promo 
tions — Farewell  to  First  Corps — Campaign  begun — Bat 
tle  of  the  Wilderness — Longstreet  on  the  left — llebel 
successes  on  the  right — Race  for  Spottsylvania — Death 
of  Major  Keenan 318 

CHAPTER  II. 

In  front  of  Spottsylvania — Laurel  Hill — Moving  to  the  left 
— Grant  marching  southward — On  the  North  Anna — 
Chickahominy — Bethesda  Church — Cold  Harbor — Harri 
son's  Landing 334 

CHAPTER  III. 

South  of  the  James — In  front  of  Petersburg — Mine  explo 
sion — Fight  for  the  Wreldon  Railroad 351 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Advances  and  retrogrades — Changes  in  the  Eleventh — 
Hicksford  raid — Burning  ties — Successful  ambush — In 
camp 362 

CHAPTER  V. 

Extending  the  left  to  Hatcher's  Run — Consolidation  of 
Eleventh  and  Ninetieth  —  Opening  of  the  campaign — 
Battle  of  Hatcher's  Run 371 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Final  Concentration — Army  incredulous — Boydton  plank- 
road — Reinforcing  Sheridan 379 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Fifth  Corps  with  Sheridan — Getting  into  position — Battle 
of  Five  Forks — Captures  and  losses.... 386 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Last  march  of  the  Fifth  Corps — General  Warren  relieved 
of  command — Bivouac  at  Deep  Creek  —  Appomattox 
Court  House — Lee  surrenders 391 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Homeward  bound — Through  Richmond — Across  the  Penin 
sula — Hall's  Hill — Grand  review — Army  disbanded — 
Harrisburg — Eleventh  Regiment  living  and  dead  —  Knd..  398 


STORY  OF  THE  REGIMENT. 


I. 

CHAPTER  I. 

REBELLION    ARMED    AND    DEFIANT. 

THE  roar  of  Sumter's  guns,  as  it  rolled  north 
ward  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  westward 
across  the  prairies,  awakened  the  nation  from  its 
peaceful  dream  of  half  a  century,  to  the  startling 
reality  of  armed  and  defiant  Rebellion. 

A  dissolution  of  the  Federal  Union,  at  first 
darkly  hinted,  and  afterward  openly  avowed, 
toward  the  close  of  the  year  1860  became  a  fixed 
purpose  with  leading  Southern  statesmen, — a 
purpose  to  which  they  gave  masterly  energies, 
entailing  upon  the  country  four  years  of  calam 
itous  war. 

Following  close  upon  the  surrender  of  Fort 
Sumter,  came  the  call  from  Washington,  not 
less  startling  than  the  report  of  the  first  cannon 
shot,  for  volunteers  to  defend  the  rightful  au 
thority  of  the  Government.  Every  Northern 
State  sent  back  the  same  enthusiastic  response. 

2  (13) 


14  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

Party  lines  were  obliterated,  and  political  differ 
ences  forgotten  in  the  common  danger.  Cities 
and  towns  and  villages  rivaled  each  other  in 
their  patriotic  offers  of  men  and  means.  It  was 
the  uprising  of  an  indignant  and  insulted  people. 
The'South  had  taken  the  sword ;  and  though  re 
luctant  to  begin  the  strife,  the  North  accepted 
the  issue. 

The  State  capital  became  the  military  rendez 
vous  of  Pennsylvania ;  and  to  Harrisburg  her 
sons  hastened,  from  their  farms  and  their  work 
shops;  from  offices  and  stores  and  counting- 
rooms.  Eapidly  as  the  troops  arrived  they  were 
organized  into  regiments  and  sent  to  the  front, 
each  regiment  distinguished  by  the  number  that 
marked  the  order  of  its  organization. 

One  week  later  than  the  President's  call  for 
troops,  ten  companies,  representing  six  different 
counties,  and  containing  in  all  nearly  a  thousand 
men,  were  united  and  formed  into  the  Eleventh 
Regiment.  Co.  A,  Captain  J.  C.  Dodge,  Co.  D, 
Captain  W.  B.  Schott,  and  Co.  G,  Captain  J.  K 
Bowman,  represented  Lycoming  County;  Co.  B, 
Captain  Phaen  Jarrett,  and  Co.  C,  Captain  H. 
M.  Bossert,  Clinton  County;  Co.  E,  Captain  John 
B.  Johnson,  Luzerne  County;  Co.  F,  Captain  C. 
J.  Bruuner,  Northumberland  County;  Co.  H, 
Captain  "W.  M.  McLure,  Montour  County;  Co. 
I,  Captain  Richard  Coulter,  and  Co.  K,  Captain 
W.  B.  Coulter,  Westmoreland  County.  These 


ORGANIZATION    COMPLETED.  15 

brave  men,  meeting  as  strangers,  but  drawn  to 
gether  by  the  same  noble  impulse  of  love  of 
country,  were  now  united,  for  life  or  for  death, 
in  strong  and  enduring  bonds. 

The  election  for  field  officers  that  followed  this 
union  of  companies  resulted  in  the  choice  of 
Captain  Phaen  Jarrett  for  Colonel;  Captain 
Richard  Coulter,  Lieutenant-Colonel;  and  W. 
D.  Earnest,  Major.  To  complete  the  regimental 
organization,  Lieutenant  A.  F.  Aul  was  appointed 
Adjutant;  W.  H.  Hay,  Quartermaster;  Dr.  W.  F. 
Babb,  Surgeon,  and  H.  B.  Beuhler,  Assistant 
Surgeon. 

The  ELEVENTH  REGIMENT  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 
VOLUNTEERS  was  thenceforth  a  corporeal  re 
ality.  From  the  23d  of  April,  1861,  to  the  sur 
render  of  General  Lee  at  Appomattox  Court 
House,  the  history  of  the  U01d  Eleventh" — so 
designated  to  distinguish  it  from  the  Eleventh 
Regiment  of  the  Pennsylvania  Reserve  Corps — 
is  the  history,  in  part,  of  all  the  grand  move 
ments  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 


16  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 


CHAPTER  H. 

NATIONAL  FORCES  TAKE  THE  OFFENSIVE. 

THE  secession  of  Virginia,  on  the  17th  day  of 
April,  made  the  National  Capital  the  main  point 
to  he  defended ;  and  to  Washington  each  State 
sent  its  first  available  troops.  But  the  Govern 
ment  soon  discovered  that  there  were  other  ene 
mies  to  provide  against  than  those  openly  in  arms 
in  Virginia.  Traitors  walked  abroad  in  the  guise 
of  peaceful  citizens  ;  and  since  the  wanton  attack 
upon  the  troops  passing  through  Baltimore,  and 
the  destruction  of  the  railroads  leading  to  that 
city,  all  the  lines  of  travel  communicating  with 
Washington  were  closely  guarded. 

Three  days  after  its  organization,  by  order  of 
General  Patterson,  commanding  the  Department 
of  Pennsylvania,  the  Eleventh  Regiment,  then 
at  Camp  Wayne,  West  Chester,  was  assigned  to 
duty  on  the  Baltimore  and  Wilmington  Railroad, 
occupying  the  territory  between  Havre  de  Grace 
and  Elkton.  The  instructions  issued  to  Colonel 
Jarrett,  defining  the  nature  of  the  service  re 
quired  of  his  regiment,  indicated,  even  at  that 
early  day,  the  conciliatory  spirit  that  ever  ani 
mated  the  Government  throughout  the  entire 
rebellion. 


GUARDING   THE    RAILROAD.  17 

"  The  Major-General  understands  that  along 
the  line  of  railway  placed  under  your  charge,  and 
more  particularly  in  the  neighborhood  of  New 
ark,  inoffensive  citizens  have  been  molested  by 
the  troops  lately  removed.  He  wishes  you  to  in 
struct  your  men  that  this  must  not  be ;  and  that 
the  object  of  being  where  you  are  is  to  make 
friends  of  the  inhabitants,  and  not  enemies.  *  * 
You  will  instruct  the  officers  stationed  at  New 
ark  to  be  careful  to  allay  the  angry  feeling  which 
has  been  excited  at  that  point." 

The  railroad  was  well  guarded;  and  without 
any  compromise  of  integrity,  the  other  object — 
making  friends  of  the  inhabitants  along  the  line 
— was  also  secured.  At  Havre  de  Grace,  Cos.  A 
and  B,  and  Co.  K  at  Newark — where  persons 
had  been  arrested  on  idle  and  ill-founded  charges — 
were  made  the  recipients  of  the  confidence  and 
good  will  of  the  citizens,  expressed  in  the  most 
substantial  manner. 

Into  the  brief  hours  of  those  unusual  days 
were  crowded  events  for  whose  maturity  a  quar 
ter  of  a  century  had  been  necessary.  Harper's 
Ferry,  evacuated  by  the  Federal  troops  in  the 
evening,  was  occupied  next  morning  by  a  large 
rebel  force  that  marched  down  the  Shenandoah 
Valley,  under  command  of  General  J.  E.  John 
son.  An  attack  upon  Washington,  by  way  of 
Alexandria,  was  hourly  expected ;  and  the  ap 
pearance  of  the  enemy  at  Harper's  Ferry  and 

9* 


18  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

along  the  banks  of  the  Upper  Potomac,  looked 
as  though  an  attempt  was  to  be  made  to  invest 
the  city  by  overrunning  the  borders  of  Maryland 
and  Pennsylvania. 

"With  something  of  the  spirit  that  character 
ized  later  army  movements,  all  the  troops  that 
could  be  spared  from  the  actual  defense  of  Wash 
ington  were  placed  under  command  of  General 
Patterson,  and  hastened  to  the  border.  The 
Eleventh  Regiment,  relieved  of  guard  duty  on 
the  railroad,  and  marching  by  way  of  Baltimore 
and  Washington,  reported  to  the  commanding 
general  at  Hagerstown,  and  was  assigned  to 
Colonel  Abercrombie's  Brigade  of  Keinrs  Di 
vision. 

The  army  of  General  Patterson,  as  it  was  the 
largest  single  column  acting  against  the  enemy, 
was  an  object  of  national  interest.  It  was  pre 
paring  to  march  against  twenty  thousand  rebels, 
whose  leader  expressed  a  determination  to  hold 
Harper's  Ferry  at  all  hazard,  as  the  key  of  the 
Shenandoah  Valley.  General  Scott  counseled 
Patterson  that  it  would  not  be  enough  simply  to 
sustain  no  reverse.  "  A  check,  or  a  drawn  bat 
tle,  would  be  a  victory  to  the  enemy,  tilling  his 
heart  with  joy,  his  ranks  with  men,  and  his  mag 
azines  with  voluntary  contributions,"  telegraphed 
the  veteran  commander  at  the  moment  the  troops 
took  their  first  forward  step. 

Filing  out  from  the  numerous  camps  around 


PATTERSON    OX    THE    UPPER    POTOMAC.  19 

Hagerstown,  with  the  rising  of  the  sun  of  June 
1st  all  the  brigades  and  divisions  of  Patterson's 
column  were  moving  in  splendid  order  toward 
the  Potomac.  The  army  thus  marching  to  the  at 
tack  of  Harper's  Ferry,  embraced  within  itself 
names  since  become  of  household  familiarity  in 
the  military  records  of  the  nation.  Major-Gen 
eral  Burnside  was  then  known  as  Colonel  Burn- 
side,  in  command  of  a  Rhode  Island  regiment ; 
Major-General  George  li.  Thomas  was  simply 
Colonel  Thomas,  commanding  a  brigade  in  Keim's 
Division  ;  Major-General  John  j^ewton  was  only 
Captain  Newton,  of  the  Engineer  Corps. 

The  rebel  general  did  not  wait  for  the  near 
approach  of  Patterson's  forces.  Drawing  in  the 
two  regiments  of  Texan  riflemen  that  picketed 
the  Potomac  as  far  up  as  Sheppardstown,  the  day 
after  our  movement  began  Harper's  Ferry  was 
evacuated,  Johnson  falling  back  to  Martinsburg. 
The  unexpected  retreat  of  the  enemy  was  re 
ceived  with  demonstrations  of  delight.  It  was 
regarded  as  an  omen  of  good,  promising  a  suc 
cessful  issue  to  all  succeeding  undertakings. 

Full  of  confident  enthusiasm,  the  pursuit  of 
Johnson  was  commenced  the  following  morning. 
Seven  or  eight  thousand  troops  had  already 
crossed  into  Virginia,  and  were  marching  down 
the  south  bank  of  the  Potomac,  when  a  sudden 
halt  was  ordered  by  a  telegram  from  Washing 
ton,  announcing  that  the  city  was  threatened 


20  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

from  the  direction  of  Alexandria,  and  calling  on 
Patterson  for  immediate  reinforcements. 

The  troops  required  by  General  Scott  left  the 
army  on  the  Upper  Potomac  without  either  ar 
tillery  or  cavalry,  and  so  greatly  reduced  in  the 
number  of  its  effective  men  as  to  make  a  further 
advance  impossible.  The  regiments  that  had 
crossed  the  river  were  recalled;  and  a  movement, 
that  at  the  first  promised  the  most  complete  suc 
cess,  ended  in  days  of  wearisome  inaction  —  as 
full  of  monotony  to  the  soldier,  as  they  were  of 
impatience  to  the  entire  ]STorth. 

Meanwhile  the  rebels,  reassuring  their  cour 
age  at  Patterson's  unavoidable  delay,  again  ap 
proached  the  Potomac.  Scouts  reported  that  a 
large  Confederate  force  occupied  the  country 
between  Dam  No.  4  and  Sheppardstown,  under 
command  of  Stonewall  Jackson  ;  and  that  John 
son  was  at  Bunker  Hill,  with  a  reserve  of  not 
less  than  five  thousand  men. 

Toward  the  latter  part  of  June,  a  battery  of 
six  guns  and  a  small  force  of  cavalry  having  been 
sent  to  him,  General  Patterson  prepared  to  re 
sume  his  forward  movement.  'A  reconnoissance 
in  force  was  to  be  made  into  Virginia,  the  troops 
moving  in  two  separate  columns.  The  Sixth 
Brigade,  Colonel  Abercrombie,  under  the  guid 
ance  of  Captain  John  Newton,  of  the  Engineer 
Corps,  was  to  cross  the  river  near  Dam  No.  4, 
supported  by  the  First  Brigade,  Colonel  Thomas, 


MARCH    INTO    VIRGINIA.  21 

and  four  pieces  of  artillery.  The  Second  and 
Fifth  Brigades,  Generals  Wynkoop  and  Negley, 
were  to  remain  within  striking  distance  of  Aber- 
crombie  and  Thomas.  These  troops  constituted 
the  first  column,  under  command  of  Major-Gen 
eral  Keim.  The  second  column  consisted  of 
the  Third  and  Fourth  Brigades,  a  squadron  of 
cavalry,  and  one  section  of  Perkin's  Battery, 
under  Major-General  Cadwallader.  The  second 
column  was  to  cross  at  Williamsport. 

The  night  preceding  the  contemplated  move 
ment,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Coulter  and  thirty  men 
of  the  Eleventh  Regiment,  were  detailed  to  ex- 

O 

plore  the  fordings  of  the  river  near  the  proposed 
place  of  passage  for  the  first  column.  Marching 
quietly  down  the  left  bank,  their  movements 
concealed  from  the  enemy's  pickets  by  the  in 
tense  darkness  and  the  heavy  falling  rain,  the 
exploring  party  carefully  surveyed  the  river, 
crossing  and  recrossing  at  several  different  points. 
Everywhere  high  water  rendered  the  fordings 
impassable. 

It  was  then  decided  to  cross  the  entire  force  at 
Williamsport  in  the  following  order:  Colonel 
Abercrornbie's  Brigade,  with  one  section  of  ar 
tillery  and  a  squadron  of  cavalry.  Colonel 
Thomas's  Brigade,  with  one  company  of  cavalry 
and  two  pieces  of  artillery.  General  2s"egley's 
Brigade,  with  one  section  of  artillery  and  a  com 
pany  of  cavalry,  forming  General  Keim's  Divi- 


22  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

sion.  General  Cad  wall  ader's  Division  was  to 
follow  close  in  the  rear. 

One  clay  was  lost  by  the  change  in  the  order 
of  march.  But  early  on  the  morning  of  July  2d 
the  army  was  in  motion.  An  advance  guard  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  men  of  the  Eleventh,  and 
McMullin's  Philadelphia  Rangers,  was  thrown 
across  the  river  to  carry  the  fording.  A  small 
rebel  force,  stationed  on  the  Virginia  shore  to 
watch  our  movements,  received  the  vanguard 
with  a  brisk,  though  entirely  harmless,  volley  of 
musketry.  Nothing  daunted  by  a  reception  so 
purely  Southern  in  all  its  characteristics,  our  men 
continued  to  advance,  and  the  enemy  retiring 
from  the  river,  the  army  crossed  the  Potomac 
without  further  opposition. 

The  first  column  marched  southward  along  the 
main  road,  except  Negley's  Brigade,  that  di 
verged  to  the  right,  a'  short  distance  from  the 
river,  to  protect  our  flank.  The  smooth  pike 
leading  to  Martinsburghad  not  then  received  the 
impress  of  a  tramping  army;  nor  were  the  green 
fields,  on  either  side  of  it,  transformed  into  fields 
of  blood  and  carnage.  Yet  there  was  a  sound 
of  battle  in  the  air.  Skirmishers  were  kept 
thrown  out  well  to  the  front,  and  an  occasional 
rebel  vedette  could  be  seen,  falling  slowly  back 
before  our  cautious  advance. 

Six  miles  from  Williamsport,  toward  the  mid 
dle  of  the  forenoon,  the  army  reached  Falling 


BATTLE    OF    FALLING    WATERS.  23 

Waters.  Broad  acres  of  wheat  flanked  the  road 
right  and  left,  and  on  a  slight  elevation  in  front 
stood  the  residence  of  the  proprietor.  At  the 
moment  of  advancing  through  a  skirt  of  woods, 
and  in  turning  a  short  angle  in  the  road,  our 
skirmish  line  suddenly  developed  a  force  of  the 
enemy  posted  in  a  clump  of  trees,  while  the  main 
body  of  the  Confederates  appeared  in  sight,  shel 
tered  behind  breastworks  of  fence  rails  and  fallen 
timber.  It  was  the  Brigade  of  Stonewall  Jackson 
by  which  we  were  thus  confronted,  since  cele 
brated  as  the  "  Stonewall  Brigde,"  consisting  of 
the  Second,  Fourth,  Fifth,  and  Twenty-seventh 
Virginia  Regiments,  J.  E.  B.  Stuart's  cavalry 
regiment,  and  Captain  Pendleton's  battery  of 
four  guns. 

The  disposition  of  the  Federal  troops  was  quick 
and  judicious.  Abercrombie  deployed  the  Elev 
enth  Pennsylvania  and  First  Wisconsin  to  the 
right  and  left  of  the  pike.  Hudson's  battery, 
supported  by  McMullin's  Rangers,  was  placed  in 
the  middle  of  the  road,  and  a  general  advance 
ordered  against  the  rapid  fire  of  the  rebels,  drawn 
up  in  battle-line  behind  Porterfield's  house.  With 
shouts  and  cheers,  that  ran  along  the  whole  col 
umn  of  troops  hurrying  forward  at  the  sound  of 
cannon,  the  leading  brigade  obeyed  the  word  of 
command. 

The  enemy's  artillery  was  admirably  posted  to 
sweep  the  Martinsburg  pike ;  but,  fortunately, 


i24  STORY    OP   THE    REGIMENT. 

Pendleton's  range  was  too  high,  and  the  shot 
passed  harmlessly  overhead.  While  thus  engag 
ing  the  rebel  infantry  and  artillery  in  front, 
Stuart  brought  up  his  cavalry,  and  riding  swiftly 
from  the  opposite  direction,  was  seen  to  make 
threatening  demonstrations  on  the  right  of  the 
Eleventh.  Repulsing  two  separate  efforts  on  the 
part  of  Stuart  to  charge  our  line,  Colonel  Jarrett 
detached  Cos.  A,  B,  and  C  as  skirmishers,  to 
take  the  cavalry  on  the  flank ;  while  the  left 
wing  of  the  regiment  was  pushed  forward  to 
turn  the  rebel  cannon  planted  in  the  middle  of 
the  road. 

The  unusual  excitement  of  battle  now  extended 
to  the  remotest  file  of  the  army,  and  footmen  and 
horse  were  pressing  with  eager  haste  toward  the 
front.  Thomas's  Brigade,  marching  behind  Aber- 
crombie,  and  the  next  to  reach  the  ground,  quit 
ting  the  pike,  and  moving  in  compact  lines 
through  the  fields,  extended  its  right  toward  the 
enemy's  left  flank.  Closely  pressed  by  Aber- 
crombie  in  front,  and  threatened  on  the  left  by 
Thomas,  further  resistance  was  useless ;  and  after 
a  spiteful  encounter  of  nearly  an  hour,  Jackson 
reluctantly  abandoned  the  field. 

The  purple  tide,  that  has  since  reached  its 
flood  height,  has  effaced  almost  every  mark  of 
the  battle  of  Falling  Waters.  Yet  the  features 
of  war  are  ever  the  same.  Those  fields  of  wheat, 
just  ripe  for  the  harvest,  were  trodden  down  and 


OCCUPATION    OF   MARTINSBURG.  25 

destroyed.  The  elegant  farm-house,  whose  white 
front  could  be  seen  through  overhanging  trees 
and  climbing  vines,  was  shattered  by  artillery, 
and  the  peaceful  scene  of  rural  felicity  marred 
and  ruined. 

Stonewall  Jackson's  first  engagement  with  our 
troops  did  not  promise  the  success  of  later  ex 
ploits.  Eight  of  his  dead  were  left  unburied  on 
the  field,  and  a  large  number  are  known  to  have 
been  wounded.  The  Union  loss  was  two  killed 
and  fifteen  wounded.  Of  these  the  Eleventh  lost 
Amos  Sappinger,  Co.  H,  killed.  Wounded  — 
William  Hannaker,  Co.  B ;  James  Morgan,  D. 
Stiles,  Nelson  Headen,  Co.  E ;  Christian  Shawl, 
Co.  F ;  Russel  Levan,  John  De  Hass,  Co.  G ; 
John  Reed,  Wm.  G.  Kuhns,  Co.  K. 

Amos  Sappinger  was  Pennsylvania's  first  life 
offering  on  the  battle-field,  in  the  war  for  the 
Union.  He  deserves  a  more  enduring  monument 
than  these  pages. 

The  pursuit  of  the  retreating  foe  was  kept  up 
as  far  as  Hainesville,  four  miles  from  Martins- 
burg,  where  the  army  bivouacked  for  the  night. 
Resuming  the  march  with  the  earliest  dawn  of 
next  day,  on  the  3d  of  July  Patterson  occupied 
Martinsburg,  Stonewall  Jackson  falling  back  on 
the  reserve  force  at  Bunker  Hill. 


26  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 


CHAPTER  in. 

MCDOWELL   AND    PATTERSON    TO    CO-OPERATE. 

THE  duty  first  assigned  to  General  Patterson 
was  the  capture  of  Harper's  Ferry.  2s"ow  he  had 
another  and  more  important  task  to  perform.  A 
column  from  Washington,  under  command  of 
General  McDowell,  was  to  move  against  the  rebel 
army  concentrated  at  Manassas  Junction ;  and 
Patterson  was  to  co-operate  with  that  column 
either  by  directly  attacking  Johnson  at  Win 
chester,  or  by  threats  and  a  well  sustained  show 
of  opposition,  prevent  him  from  leaving  the  Val 
ley  to  reinforce  Beauregard. 

The  term  of  service  for  which  the  three  months' 
troops  had  volunteered  would  soon  expire.  An 
ticipating  an  easy  victory,  and  regarding  the 
whole  aftair  very  much  in  the  light  of  a  holiday 
excursion,  every  man  was  greatly  solicitous  that 
before  returning  home,  his  regiment  should  be 
brought  into  actual  conflict  with  the  insurgents. 

But  there  was  a  serious  delay  of  several  days 
at  Martinsburg.  The  rebels  had  utterly  destroyed 
the  railroad  from  thence  to  Harper's  Ferry,  leav 
ing  behind  them,  in  their  retreat  from  the  town, 
nothing  but  the  smouldering  ruins  of  the  spa- 


ARMY    DELAYED.  27 

cious  depot  and  the  charred  remains  of  forty- 
eight  locomotives.  Xo  reliance  could  be  placed 
on  foraging  from  the  adjacent  country,  as  the 
hungry  Southerner  had  already  eat  it  bare. 
The  Quartermaster's  Department  did  not  know 
how  to  provide  for  an  army  of  eighteen  thousand 
men  as  expeditiously  as  in  later  days.  Wagons 
were  scarce,  and  as  all  the  supplies  for  Patterson's 
troops  were  hauled  from  Williamsport,  to  collect 
rations  for  more  than  two  days  in  advance  was 
next  to  impossible. 

On  the  8th  of  July  orders  were  issued  to  the 
army  for  an  advance  on  Winchester  early  next 
morning.  But  before  midnight,  and  in  the  midst 
of  active  preparations  by  each  regiment  and 
brigade  for  the  expected  movement,  the  order 
was  countermanded.  A  part  of  the  reinforce 
ments  arrived  on  that  day  was  reported  unable, 
without  rest,  to  bear  the  fatigues  of  a  further 
march,  and  be  in  proper  condition  to  meet  the 
enemy. 

In  consultation  with  some  of  his  principal  offi 
cers,  General  Patterson  found  decided  opposi 
tion  to  the  advance  on  Winchester;  and  before 
renewing  the  order  to  march,  a  council  was  called, 
composed  of  the  division  and  brigade  command 
ers,  the  officers  of  the  engineers,  and  the  chiefs 
of  the  departments  of  transportation  and  supply. 
There  was  great  unanimity  of  opinion  that  the 
army  was  on  a  false  line ;  that  it  could  more 


28  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

certainly  hold  Johnson  at  Winchester,  and  co 
operate  with  McDowell  at  Manassas,  by  taking  a 
position  at  Charlestown,  than  by  remaining  at 
Martinsburg,  or  advancing  further  down  the 
Valley. 

As  a  result  of  this  council,  the  abandoned 
picket  lines  around  Martiusburg  were  again  es 
tablished  ;  and  officers  who  did  not  spend  their 
evenings  at  the  gay  mansion  of  minister  Faulk 
ner,  enjoying  the  polite  society  of  his  accom 
plished  wife  and  daughters,  detailing  to  them  all 
the  probable  movements  of  the  Federal  army — 
only  to  be  faithfully  reported  to  the  rebel  com 
mander — went  about  discharging  the  duties  as 
signed  to  them. 

Every  one  coming  into  Martinsburg  from  the 
direction  of  Bunker  Hill  or  Winchester,  supposed 
to  be  able  to  give  any  information  respecting  the 
movements  of  the  enemy,  was  at  once  taken  be 
fore  General  Patterson.  Our  pickets  were  fa 
miliar  with  this  custom,  and  when  they  arrested 
the  runaway  slave  of  Mr.  Byerly,  living  at  Darks- 
ville,  some  distance  beyond  Bunker  Hill,  they 
knew  that  he  would  be  welcome  at  army  head 
quarters. 

The  colored  man  had  not  yet  arrived  to  the  es 
tate  of  a  contraband ;  but  his  information  was 
always  regarded  as  more  reliable  than  that  of  any 
other.  If  he  sometimes  told  more  than  he  knew, 
the  fact  was  no  disparagement  to  the  negro.  It 


THE    RUNAWAY    SLAVE.  29 

only  proved  that  in  one  point  at  least  he  was  very 
much  like  his  white  master. 

All  the  knowledge  possessed  by  the  slave  was 
soon  imparted.  Johnson  and  Jackson  often  came 
to  his  master's  house.  He  had  heard  them  say 
that  the  principal  part  of  the  Southern  force  was 
at  Winchester,  throwing  up  intrenchments  in  ex 
pectation  that  the  Yankees  were  coming ;  and 
that  many  of  the  colored  people  had  been  sent 
there  to  help  on  the  work.  Jackson  was  at  Bunker 
Hill,  with  Colonel  Stuart  and  Captain  Pendleton. 
He  knew  these  officers,  because  they  often  visited 
at  his  master's  house. 

"  Did  you  ever  hear  your  master  say  how  many 
soldiers  Johnson  has?" 

."  !N"o,  sah;  but  he  always  shakes  his  head  when 
he  talks  about  it,  and  says :  ;jist  let  de  Yankees 
come  on!" 

The  colored  man's  face  was  turned  toward  the 
Potomac,  and  when  the  general  and  his  staff  had 
ceased  to  question  him,  he  begged  to  be  permit 
ted  to  pursue  his  journey.  But  in  reward  for  re 
vealing  what  he  knew,  he  was  sent  to  the  guard 
house,  and  confined  as  a  runaway  slave. 

"How  did  you  get  off  at  last,  George?"  we 
asked  of  him  a  year  or  two  later,  in  the  interior 
of  Pennsylvania. 

"Well,  sah,  dey  kept  me  in  de  guard-house 
until  de  army  moved  to  Bunker  Hill.  Den  I  got 
away  from  de  guard,  and  went  right  back  to  my 
3* 


30  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

ole  massa.  I  was  afeard  ob  de  Yankees  after 
dat,  and  when  dey  come  again  into  de  Valley  I 
staid  close  at  home.  But  one  mornin',  jist  about 
daylight,  your  army  begin  to  come  back  along  de 
road  from  Winchester,  marchin'  very  fast.  My 
ole  massa  rubbed  his  hands  and  shook  his  head. 
'I  know'd  it,'  says  he;  'Jackson  is  arter  Banks, 
and  he'll  cotch  him  yit.' 

"  I  watch' d  'em  comin'  back  for  two  or  three 
hours ;  and  I  seed  among  de  wagons  an'  de  hos- 
men  a  good  many  colored  people  dat  I  know'd. 
Den  I  says  to  my  wife :  i  Mary,  I  feel  as  if  I 
ought  to  go  too.'  'Jist  do  as  you  like,  George,' 
says  she;  'but  don't  forgit  to  come  back  arter 
me.'  Ole  massa  was  settin'  out  on  de  poach  ;  so 
I  goes  down  behind  de  barn  and  up  through  «de 
orchard.  If  I  could  only  git  through  de  orchard, 
den  I  know'd  I  would  be  out  ob  sight.  But  it 
seemed  as  if  I'd  never  git  to  de  top  ob  de  hill ; 
my  feet  felt  so  heavy  I  couldn't  run.  Bime-by 
I  got  out  to  de  road  among  de  soldiers,  den  safe 
across  de  Potomac,  and  at  last  into  Pennsyl- 
vany.  Arter  awhile  I  goes  back  for  Mary.  Some 
body  told  massa  I  was  in  de  neighborhood,  and 
he  watched  all  night  wid  a  gun  to  shoot  me  when 
I  come  round  de  house.  But  Mary  got  away 
safe  too,  and  now  I  'spect  we'll  jist  stay  whar  we 
is." 

The  movement  from  Washington,  under  Gen 
eral  McDowell,  was  to  commence  on  the  16th  of 


RECONNOISSANCE  TO  WINCHESTER.      31 

July.  To  keep  up  a  threatening  attitude  in  front 
of  Johnson,  and  by  every  possible  means  retain 
him  in  the  Valley,  on  the  day  preceding  that  date 
General  Patterson  advanced  his  entire  force  from 
Marti nsburg  to  Bunker  Hill. 

Despite  the  example  of  the  Faulkners,  and 
others  of  like  sympathies,  there  was  a  strong 
Union  sentiment  in  Marti  nsburg;  and  when  the 
army  left  the  town  on  that  fair  summer  morning, 
the  Eleventh  Pennsylvania  Regiment  and  the 
First  Wisconsin  each  carried  a  beautiful  national 
flag,  the  gift  of  the  loyal  ladies  of  the  place,  in 
acknowledgment  of  our  first  victory  over  the 
rebel  forces  at  Falling  Waters. 

The  ashes  of  Jackson's  camp  fires  were  still 
warm  and  smouldering  as  our  troops  stacked 
arms  on  the  ground  recently  occupied  by  the 
Southrons,  and  bivouacked  for  the  night.  2s"ext 
day  Gen.  Patterson  made  a  reconnoissauce  from 
Bunker  Hill  toward  Winchester.  The  roads  were 
strongly  barricaded  at  every  available  point,  caus 
ing  frequent  halts  to  remove  the  trees  that  had 
been  felled  across  the  highway,  and  to  fill  up  the 
ditches,  with  which  Johnson  hoped  to  impede  the 
passage  of  artillery.  Four  miles  from  Winches 
ter  the  column  came  to  a  final  halt.  The  enemy 
occupied  the  town  in  large  numbers,  and  with 
out  waiting  for  him  to  come  out  from  his  in- 
trenchments,  Patterson  returned  to  Bunker  Hill. 

The  same  day  General  McDowell  began  his 


32  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

movement  against  Manassas.  On  the  17th,  Gen 
eral  Scott  telegraphed  to  Patterson  that  Mc 
Dowell's  first  day's  work  had  driven  the  enemy 
beyond  Fairfax  Court  House,  and  that  in  all  prob 
ability  Manassas  Junction  would  be  carried  on 
the  following  morning. 

Up  to  that  time,  General  Patterson  had  im 
plicitly  obeyed  the  orders  of  his  superior  officer. 
Feeling  himself  unable  to  attack  the  rebel  gen 
eral  in  his  strong  position,  by  a  well-maintained 
show  of  opposition,  Johnson  was  kept  in  his 
front,  and  could  not  reach  Manassas,  even  if  dis 
posed  to  move  in  that  direction,  in  less  than  three 
days.  There  was  no  longer  any  seeming  occa 
sion  for  keeping  his  troops  on  a  false  line,  or  of 
maintaining  communications  running  through  a 
country  in  active  sympathy  with  the  rebellion, 
and  at  any  moment  liable  to  interruption ;  and 
on  the  morning  of  July  17th  Patterson  retired 
from  Bunker  Hill  to  Charlestown. 

From  the  fording  of  the  Potomac  at  Williams- 
port  to  Bunker  Hill,  the  enemy  had  retired  be 
fore  us ;  and  when  the  troops  began  to  move  on 
that  Wednesday  morning,  ignorant  of  the  plans 
of  the  commander,  a  battle  in  front  of  Winches 
ter  was  not  only  desired,  but  confidently  expected 
by  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Federal  army.  The 
first  five  or  six  miles  of  the  march  looked  as 
though  we  were  threatening  to  fall  on  the  enemy's 
right  flank,  but  toward  noon  the  column  changed 


OCCUPATION    OF    CHARLESTOWN.  33 

front,  and  moved  in  the  direction  of  Charlestown. 
From  Bunker  Hill  to  Winchester  is  thirteen 
miles — from  Charlestown  to  Winchester  is  twenty 
miles;  and  without  knowing  the  relative  geo 
graphical  positions  of  the  different  places,  the  sol 
diers  looked  upon  the  movement  as  a  retreat 
without  a  pursuing  foe.  Murmurs  of  discontent, 
audible  to  every  ear,  ran  along  the  line,  and  the 
reproach  visited  upon  the  commanding  general 
was  without  stint  or  measure. 

The  Army  of  the  Upper  Potomac  presented  a 
woe-begone  appearance  on  its  arrival  at  Charles- 
town.  The  vanguard  that  entered  the  place 
might  well  have  been  taken  for  the  ghosts  of 
John  Brown's  raiders,  had  they  carried  pikes  in 
their  hands  instead  of  bristling  muskets.  Entire 
regiments  were  without  shoes  and  without  coats, 
while  the  nether  garments  of  many  of  the  men 
were  out  at  the  knees  and  out  at  the  seat,  flaunt 
ing  their  shoddy  fragments  in  the  breeze,  or  else 
presenting  the  rents  closed  up  with  patches  of 
canvas  torn  from  dilapidated  tents. 

The  Federal  occupation  of  Charlestown  broke 
up  the  innocent  business  of  a  band  of  secession 
militia,  engaged  in  pressing  into  the  rebel  ser 
vice  the  young  men  of  the  surrounding  district. 
It  also  had  the  good  effect  of  sending  many  of 
its  principal  citizens  on  a  reluctant  pilgrimage 
further  South.  From  this  securer  base,  and  on 
a  line  far  more  advantageous  as  it  was  supposed, 


34  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

General  Patterson  began  at  once  active  prepara 
tions  to  attack  Winchester. 

In  one  week  the  terra  of  enlistment  of  eigh 
teen  regiments — full  three-fourths  of  the  army — 
would  expire.  An  appeal  was  made  to  the 
troops  to  remain  ten  days  longer,  and  from  the 
spirit  thus  far  manifested  by  them,  a  hearty  re 
sponse  was  anticipated.  But  the  men  had  become 
dissatisfied,  and  only  three  Pennsylvania  regi 
ments —  the  "Eleventh,  the  Fifteenth,  and  the 
Twenty-fourth — declared  their  willingness  to  stay. 
Patterson  was  now  powerless  to  do  anything,  and 
the  army  lay  idle  at  Charlestown  awaiting  orders 
from  Washington. 

While  these  delays  and  disappointments  in  the 
Army  of  the  Upper  Potomac  were  causing  heart 
burnings  and  bitter  criminations,  the  nation  was 
nearing  the  first  great  calamity  of  the  war.  Mc 
Dowell  did  not  carry  Manassas  Junction  on  the 
18th  of  July,  as  General  Scott  had  so  confidently 
expected ;  and  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  was  not 
fought  until  the  21st.  Meanwhile,  in  answer  to 
an  urgent  call  from  the  rebel  government  to 
hasten  to  the  assistance  of  Beauregard,  Johnson 
quietly  withdrew  his  forces  from  Winchester, 
and  marching  toward  Manassas,  arrived  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  engagement  at  the  moment  to 
turn  the  tide  of  battle,  and  change  what  prom 
ised  a  victory  to  the  Federal  arms  into  defeat  and 
disastrous  rout. 


II. 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE    REBELLION    IN    A    NEW    PHASE. 

THE  rebellion  assumed  a  different  shape  in  the 
eyes  of  the  country  after  the  battle  of  Bull  Run. 
The  huge  proportions  to  which  it  afterward 
grew,  began  then  to  be  distinctly  foreshadowed. 
Its  leaders,  flushed  with  victory,  and  expecting  a 
speedy  conquest  of  the  North,  did  not  hesitate 
to  reveal,  undisguised,  the  spirit  of  prejudice 
and  hate  that  conceived  and  inaugurated  the 
whole  secession  movement. 

The  three  months'  campaign  accomplished 
comparatively  little ;  and  closing  with  the  defeat 
of  Bull  Run,  seemed  scarcely  anything  else  than 
a  total  failure.  Yet  there  was  no  abatement  in 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  people ;  and  nowhere  was 
this  enthusiasm  greater  than  among  the  men  who 
had  passed  through  this  first  campaign.  Whole 
regiments,  with  hardly  any  change  in  their  or 
ganization,  re-enlisted  for  the  long  term  of  three 
years,  or  during  the  war. 

On  the  24th  of  July,  the  Eleventh  Regiment 

( 35  ) 


36  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

left  Harper's  Ferry  for  Baltimore,  en  route  for 
Harrisburg,  where  the  men  were  mustered  out 
of  service.  General  Patterson's  order  for  trans 
portation  was  accompanied  by  a  commendation 
of  the  regiment,  carefully  preserved  among  its 
papers. 

"It  gives  the  commanding  general  great  satis 
faction  to  say,  that  the  conduct  of  this  regiment 
has  merited  his  highest  approbation.  It  had  the 
fortune  to  be  in  the  advance  at  Falling  Waters, 
where  the  steadiness  and  gallantry  of  both  officers 
and  men  came  under  his  personal  observation. 
They  have  well  merited  his  thanks." 

Before  the  first  term  of  enlistment  had  alto 
gether  expired,  steps  were  taken  to  reorganize 
the  Eleventh  for  the  three  years'  service.  Colonel 
Jarrett  submitted  to  General  Patterson  a  com 
plete  regimental  organization,  headed  by  the 
name  of  Richard  Coulter,  as  Colonel.  The  rec 
ommendations  were  heartily  indorsed  by  the 
general,  and  referred  to  Governor  Curtin  for 
commissions. 

Under  date  of  July  25th,  Simon  Cameron, 
Secretary  of  War,  telegraphed  to  Colonel  Coulter 
that  his  regiment  was  accepted  for  the  long  term 
of  service.  A  few  days  later,  the  colonel  was 
directed,  by  the  same  authority,  to  enter  his  men 
in  Camp  Curtin  and  hold  them  ready  for  march 
ing  orders,  leaving  an  officer  behind  to  recruit 
the  several  companies  to  the  maximum  standard. 


FROM    CITIZEN    TO    SOLDIER.  37 

With  the  many  hands  into  which  it  was  divided, 
it  was  only  the  work  of  a  moment  to  transform 
the  peaceful  citizen  into  a  soldier,  of  martial 
look  and  mien.  Finely  polished  boots  were  ex 
changed  for  a  pair  of  substantial  brogans,  often 
without  finish,  and  oftener  without  fit.  Panta 
loons  of  sable  black,  or  demure  brown,  or  sprightly 
gray,  gave  place  to  a  pair  of  unmixed  blue.  The 
head  that  supported  a  luxuriant  growth  of  chest 
nut  curls,  and  nodded  gracefully  under  a  shining 
beaver,  first  closely  shorn  of  all  capillary  super 
fluities,  was  incased  in  a  cap  of  the  smallest  pat 
tern  ;  while  a  blue  coat,  with  an  economically 
short  tail,  took  the  place  of  the  neatly  fitting 
frock. 

When  the  quiet  citizen,  thus  attired,  had  a 
knapsack  strapped  upon  his  back,  and  a  haver 
sack  thrown  across  his  shoulders,  with  gun,  can 
teen,  and  cartridge  box,  the  transformation  was 
complete.  He  was  thenceforth  prepared  to  enter 
upon  a  mode  of  life,  as  different  from  his  former 
self,  as  though  he  had  entirely  changed  his  per 
sonal  identity. 

Early  in  the  month  of  August,  Co.  B,  under 
command  of  Captain  William  Shanks,  arrived  at 
Camp  Curtin.  To  this  first  company  others  were 
quickly  added;  and  by  the  1st  of  September, 
the  regiment  might,  have  gone  to  the  front  with 
its  full  complement  of  men. 

In  those  days  of  intense  excitement,  twenty- 
4 


38  STORY   OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

four  hours  in  camp  reached  the  limit  of  any  one's 
patfence.  Officers  and  men  were  alike  clamorous 
to  be  sent  to  Washington,  or  anywhere  else  out  of 
the  State  that  danger  threatened.  Each  one  acted 
as  though  in  fear  that  the  rebellion  might  be 
crushed,  and  the  war  closed  up,  without  giving 
him  an  opportunity  of  striking  a  single  blow  for 
the  Union. 

Perhaps  it  was  well  for  the  Cause  that  it  could 
not  then  be  known  how-  much  of  the  dark  and 
angry-looking  war-cloud,  that  appeared  above  the 
Southern  horizon,  hung  below  concealed  from 
human  eyes. 

At  no  time,  from  August  to  November,  were 
there  less  than  five  to  ten  thousand  men  in  camp. 
But  the  work  of  assigning  to  regiments  the  in 
numerable  squads  and  companies  into  which  the 
number  was  divided,  was  a  slow  process ;  too 
slow,  indeed,  for  the  active  spirits  with  which  the 
State  authorities  had  to  deal.  As  a  result,  regi 
mental  officers  took  the  matter  of  filling  up  their 
commands  into  their  own  hands;  and  as  men 
were  in  demand,  not  he  who  knew  most  of 
Jomini's  Art  of  War,  or  Cassey's  Tactics,  but 
that  one'  who  could  bring  with  him  the  largest 
force  of  recruits,  might  secure  any  position  from 
a  field  officer  down  through  all  the  grades  to  a 
second  lieutenant. 

Then,  again,  some  valiant  captain,  anxious  to 
have  his  favorite  doctor  or  parson  transformed 


FILLING    UP    REGIMENTS.  39 

into  a  surgeon  or  a  chaplain,  or  his  patriotic  friend 
made  quartermaster  or  sutler,  in  consideration 
of  one  or  the  other  of  these  positions,  would 
agree  to  transfer  his  company  to  the  regiment 
where  such  a  place  could  be  secured.  Patriot 
ism  had  gone  up  beyond  fever  heat ;  and  the  ex 
cessive  desire  to  be  among  the  foremost  of  the 
country's  defenders  must  apologize  for  all  ques 
tionable  practices.  Especially  as  it  happened, 
that  when  the  times  came  that  tried  men — as 
come  they  did — the  unfit  stepped  aside,  and  the 
right  men  gravitated  into  the  right  places. 

Though  among  the  first  of  the  three  months' 
troops  to  be  accepted  for  the  long  term  of  en 
listment,  and  by  the  4th  of  August  sent  its 
first  recruits  into  camp,  the  Eleventh  did  not 
leave  the  State  until  late  in  November.  The  au 
thorities  at  Harrisburg  shared  somewhat  in  the 
feelings  of  the  citizen-soldiers.  There  was  a  pos 
sibility  that  the  work  of  putting  down  the  rebel 
lion  would  not  require  all  the  men  called  into 
service,  and  that  each  regiment  might  alike  enjoy 
the  fame  to  be  achieved  in  actual  conflict  with 
the  rebels,  four  companies,  at  several  different 
times,  were  taken  from  the  Eleventh,  and  given 
to  other  regiments  that  had  exhausted  all  their 
resources  for  recruiting,  and  still  remained  below 
the  maximum  number.  The  grave  reason  for  such 
official  partiality  was  in  the  fact  that  the  Eleventh 
had  already  the  distinguished  honor  of  being  the 


40  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

only  Pennsylvania  regiment  that  had  participated 
in  a  battle  during  the  three  months'  campaign,  and 
it  could  therefore  afford  to  wait  a  longer  time  than 
some  others  for  its  complement  of  men  under  the 
new  enlistment. 

But  there  was  another  cause  for  our  long  delay 
at  Camp  Curtin.  All  connected  with  the  regi 
ment  desired  to  retain  the  old  regimental  num 
ber — Eleventh.  The  men  had  learned  to  love  it ; 
and,  besides,  there  was  true  soldierly  pride  in 
wishing  to  be  known  as  the  Eleventh  Regiment, 
— the  name  under  which  they  had  defeated  Stone- 
wallJackson, — won  the  first  congratulatory  order 
issued  by  the  commander  of  the  army  of  which 
they  were  a  part,  and  by  which  the  Secretary  of 
War  had  so  early  accepted  them  for  the  second 
term  of  enlistment. 

For  some  reason,  this  very  natural  desire  on 
the  part  of  the  regiment  was  strenuously  opposed 
by  a  few  of  the  dignitaries  of  the  State  capital. 
Early  in  October  a  flag  was  prepared,  designating 
the  regiment  as  the  Fifty-first,  but  the  flag  was 
refused;  and  by  way  of  punishing  the  officers 
for  their  obstinacy  in  not  yielding  the  point,  they 
were  kept  longer  in  camp  than  would  probably 
have  been  the  case  had  there  been  less  devotion 
to  the  old  number. 

The  dispute  was  at  last  settled  by  an  order 
from  Governor  Curtin,  dated  Harrisburg,  Octo 
ber  26th,  1861 : 


GOVERNOR'S  ORDER.  41 

"  The  Regiment  of  Pennsylvania  Volunteers, 
commanded  by  Colonel  Coulter,  will  continue  to 
be  known  as  the  Eleventh  Regiment  Pennsyl 
vania  Volunteers.  It  is  just  to  the  officers  and 
men,  that  the  regiment  should  have  future  op 
portunities  of  displaying  the  courage  and  gal 
lantry  of  Falling  Waters,  which  is  now  a  part  of 
the  military  history  of  the  State,  under  their 
original  designation." 

In  everything  relating  to  soldierly  efficiency, 
our  stay  at  Camp  Curtin  was  beneficial.  The 
drills  were  regular  and  complete.  Its  discipline 
was  the  happy  medium  between  the  liberty-  of 
the  citizen  and  the  strict  military  rule  of  active 
service,  preparing  each  man  gradually  to  forget 
the  one  and  submit  to  the  other. 

It  also  introduced  us  to  the  active  sympathies 
of  a  band  of  noble  women  in  Harrisburg,  princi 
pal  among  whom  were  Mrs.  George  H.  Small, 
Mrs.  James  Denning,  and  Mrs.  Lile  Cornyn. 
The  constant  care  of  these  ladies  for  the  sick  of 
the  regiment  in  the  camp  hospital,  and  when  the 
disease  became  serious  removing  the  patients  to 
their  own  houses,  entitles  them  to  our  lasting 
gratitude. 

The  organization  of  the  field  and  staff  officers 
had  undergone  some  change  in  the  interval  of  six 
months,  compared  with  that  first  recommended 
by  Colonel  Jarre tt.  Colonel  Coulter  had  asso 
ciated  with  him,  as  Lieutenant-Colonel,  Thomas 


42  STORY    OF    THE   REGIMENT. 

S.  Martin,  formerly  of  the  Twenty-third  Penn 
sylvania  Regiment;  Henry  A.  Frink,  of  Phila 
delphia,  was  commissioned  Major;  Lieutenant 
Israel  Uncapher,  of  Co.  F,  Adjutant;  Lieutenant 
G.  W.  Thorn,  of  Co.  B,  Quartermaster;  Dr.  R. 
M.  S.  Jackson,  of  Cresson,  Surgeon;  Dr.  James 
W.  Anawalt,  of  Greensburg,  Assistant  Surgeon, 
and  William  H.  Locke,  of  Pittsburg,  Chaplain. 


CHAPTER  II. 

FROM    PENNSYLVANIA    TO    MARYLAND. 

ON  the  20th  of  November,  in  the  presence  of 
a  large  concourse  of  spectators,  Governor  Cur- 
tin  presented  to  the  regiment  the  stand  of  colors 
provided  by  the  State,  bearing  on  its  graceful 
folds,  in  bright  gilt  letters,  "ELEVENTH  REGIMENT 
PENNA.  VOLS."  Side  by  side  with  this  cherished 
gift  of  the  State  was  carried  the  flag  presented 
by  the  ladies  of  Martinsburg,  both  alike  to  be 
shielded  from  dishonor  with  nothing  less  sacred 
than  our  lives. 

One  week  later,  Colonel  Coulter  was  ordered 
to  report  his  regiment  to  General  Dix,  at  Balti 
more.  Co.  A,  Captain  Christian  Kuhn ;  Co.  B, 
Captain  William  Shanks;  Co.  C,  Captain  Jacob 


THROUGH    BALTIMORE.  43 

J.  Bierer;  Co.  D,  Captain  John  Knox;  Co.  E, 
Captain  James  C.  McCurdy;  Co.  F,  Captain  Da 
vid  M.  Cook ;  Co.  II,  Captain  Edward  H.  Rauch ; 
Co.  I,  Captain  George  A.  Cribbs;  and  Co.  K, 
Captain  John  B.  Keenan,  took  cars  at  the  North 
ern  Central  depot  the  same  evening,  leaving  Co. 
G  to  follow  next  day. 

It  was  hard  to  realize,  as  we  marched  through 
the  streets  of  Baltimore  in  the  early  morning  of 
November  28th,  on  our  way  to  the  wharf  where 
the  regiment  was  to  take  shipping  for  Annapolis, 
that  we  were  treading  the  same  thoroughfares  in 
which  Union  soldiers,  but  a  few  months  before, 
had  been  stoned  to  death.  A  very  different  re 
ception  awaited  the  Eleventh.  Subsistence  com 
mittees  met  us  at  the  cars,  ready  to  escort  us  to 
the  Soldiers'  Home ;  smiling  faces  and  waving 
handkerchiefs  everywhere  greeted  us,  as  though 
Baltimore  would  erase  all  recollection  of  the 
hateful  19th  of  April. 

Late  at  night  we  disembarked  at  Annapolis, 
and  marched  to  the  old  St.  John's  College.  Ever 
since  General  Butler  landed  his  troops  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Severn  River,  and  marched  from 
thence  to  Washington,  Annapolis  had  been  an 
important  point  to  the  Government.  At  the  time 
of  our  arrival  it  was  an  immense  depot  of  military 
supplies,  besides  the  rendezvous  of  the  Burnside 
expedition,  whose  unknown  destination  lent  a  ro 
mantic  charm  to  everything  connected  with  it. 


44  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

In  the  midst  of  the  formidable  array  of  ships 
and  men  that  crowded  the  harbor  and  thronged 
the  streets  of  the  antique  city,  we  found  ourselves 
surrounded  by  associations  inexpressibly  dear  to 
the  heart  of  every  American.  We  were  in  one 
of  the  oldest  cities  of  the  Union.  Here  was  the 
State  House,  with  a  history  running  back  to 
the  days  of  the  Revolution,  in  which  the  treaty 
of  peace  with  Great  Britain,  acknowledging  our 
independence,  had  been  ratified  by  Congress. 
Here  Washington  resigned  his  commission  as 
commander-in-chief  of  the  American  army,  and 
retired  to  Mount  Yernon.  The  room  has  been 
preserved  unchanged;  and  to  stand  upon  the 
spot  where  Washington  stood  at  that  hour  of  his 
life,  to  look  upon  the  same  objects  on  which  he  had 
gazed,  seemed  to  place  one  in  close  communion 
with  the  spirit  of  the  mighty  dead.  It  was  in 
deed  singular  that  upon  such  hallowed  ground 
the  demon  of  treason  should  dare  to  manifest 
itself. 

St.  John's  College — in  which  were  found  ex 
cellent  quarters  for  men  and  officers,  the  former 
occupying  the  three  large  school  edifices  and  the 
latter  the  several  dwelling-houses  of  the  profes 
sors — was  scarcely  less  venerable  and  venerated 
than  the  State  House  itself.  The  main  building 
had  been  erected  more  than  a  hundred  years,  and 
was  at  first  designed  as  the  Executive  Mansion 
of  the  State.  But  the  General  Assembly  of  Ma- 


ANNAPOLIS.  45 

ryland,  in  1784,  incorporated  St.  John's  College, 
and  conveyed  to  the  trustees  the  building  and 
four  acres  of  land,  known  as  College  Green. 

College  Green  was  used  in  the  revolutionary 
war  as  the  camping-ground  of  the  French  army; 
and  also  by  the  American  troops  assembled  in 
the  war  of  1812.  Now,  for  the  third  time,  it 
became  a  military  encampment.  It  was  not  a 
foreign  foe  that  threatened  us,  but  those  of  our 
own  household.  Violent  men  were  seeking  to 
destroy  the  integrity  of  the  republic,  and  the 
troops  then  drilling  on  soil  already  consecrated 
by  the  footsteps  of  the  patriots  who  established 
the  Government,  had  before  them  the  not  less 
glorious  work  of  preserving  that  Government  in 
tact  to  those  who  should  come  after. 

During  the  several  beautiful  Sabbaths  that  fol 
lowed  our  arrival  at  Annapolis,  as  the  chaplain 
stood  beneath  the  overhanging  branches  of  a 
venerable  tree,  whose  age  can  certainly  be  counted 
back  two  hundred  years,  and  in  the  midst  of  the 
historical  associations  alluded  to,  speaking  to  offi 
cers  and  men  in  the  name  of  JESUS,  and  re 
membering  that  our  fathers  had  only  succeeded 
in  their  struggle  through  the  blessing  of  GOD, 
how  necessary  it  seemed  that  our  cause  should 
be  sanctified  by  prayer,  and  that  our  hope  of 
success  be  placed  alone  in  HIM. 

It  would  have  accorded  better  with  the  incli 
nations  of  all  concerned  had* the  Eleventh  been  se- 


46  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

lected  to  make  a  part  of  the  Burnside  expedition, 
then  nearly  ready  to  sail.  But  the  order  of  Gen 
eral  Dix  assigned  us  to  duty  iu  Annapolis.  The 
duties  were  onerous,  and  more  than  should  have 
been  required  of  any  one  regiment.  The  city 
was  furnished  with  a  provost  guard,  twenty-one 
miles  of  railroad  were  protected,  besides  per 
forming  a  large  share  of  fatigue  duty  at  the  Naval 
Academy,  the  commissary  depot  of  the  sailing 
expedition. 

A  contraband  trade  had  been  kept  up  between 
Baltimore  and  Virginia  through  the  lower  coun 
ties  of  Maryland,  upon  which  we  were  also  to 
keep  an  eye;  as  well,  possibly,  by  our  presence, 
protect  the  Maryland  Legislature,  then  about  to 
assemble,  in  its  expressions  of  loyalty  and  de 
nunciations  of  treason. 

Companies  B,  E,  I,  and  K  were  sent  out  on  the 
railroad,  while  the  other  five  companies  (Co.  G 
having  failed  as  yet  to  report)  made  up  the  pro 
vost  guard,  and  all  the  details  for  duty  elsewhere. 
The  guard-house  was  in  the  old  city  ball-room, 
one  of  the  historic  places  of  Annapolis.  Older 
than  the  State  House,  it  had  been  used  as  the 
legislative  hall  during  the  erection  of  that  build 
ing;  while  the  supper-room  was  formerly  the 
revenue  office  of  the  province.  The  walls  were 
still  decorated  by  portraits  of  Lord  Baltimore 
and  several  of  the  former  Governors  of  Mary- 
laud.  Those  gentlemen  of  the  olden  time  seemed 


ANNAPOLIS.  47 

strangely  out  of  place  in  the  crowd  of  unruly 
soldiers  that  the  Provost  Marshal,  Captain  Ja 
cob  J.  Bierer,  almost  nightly  provided  with  lodg 
ings  in  that  room. 

Everything  looked  as  though  the  regiment 
would  pass  the  winter  in  Annapolis,  and  our 
plans  were  made  with  a  view  to  patient  submis 
sion.  The  men  guarding  the  railroad  were  ap 
parently  satisfied  with  their  part  of  the  contract, 
and  those  in  quarters  had  no  more  complaints 
than  are  usual  to  a  soldier.  The  trustees  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  kindly  offered  us  the 
use  of  their  house,  where  religious  services  were 
held  every  Sabbath  afternoon,  a  hospital  tent, 
then  out  of  use,  serving  as  a  chapel  for  week- 
night  meetings. 

Nor  was  the  service  required  entirely  devoid  of 
the  kind  of  excitement  so  essential  to  the  volun 
teer.  The  companies  on  the  railroad  found  am 
ple  exercise  for  all  their  vigilance  in  the  number 
of  passing  trains,  and  in  the  travel  in  private  con 
veyance  to  and  fro  along  their  lines.  The  guard 
in  town  was  not  less  active,  keeping  a  sharp  look 
out  that  no  suspicious  craft  or  contraband  cargo 
was  permitted  to  escape  from  the  harbor. 

Governor  Hicks,  Speaker  Berry  of  the  House  of 
Delegates,  Judge  Brewer,  and  other  prominent  cit 
izens,  gave  us  special  personal  attention,  and  con 
tributed  greatly  to  our  social  enjoyment.  Through 
the  efforts  of  such  men  as  these,  who  nobly 


48  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

breasted  the  tide  of  disloyalty  and  treason,  at  one 
time  setting  in  hard  against  her,  Maryland  es 
caped  the  desolation  and  ruin  that  have  swept 
over  her  sister  State  of  Virginia. 

Western  boys,  such  as  composed  the  Eleventh, 
had  no  sympathies  in  common  with  those  who 
could  find  apologies  for  secession  and  rebellion. 
Maryland  had  not  then  accepted  the  logic  of 
events,  nor  declared  herself  a  free  State ;  and 
occasionally  a  rampant  Southron  was  to  be  met, 
whose  zeal  for  the  South  was  greater  than  his 
discretion.  The  Articles  of  War  forbade  politi 
cal  discussions  by  any  in  the  service.  But  more 
than  one  of  those  blatant  apologists  of  wrong 
found  that  Union  soldiers  had  a  way  of  their  own 
of  settling  disputed  points,  without  violating  the 
letter  of  military  law;  and  that  the  hard  fist  of 
a  Northern  yeoman  struck  out  from  the  shoulder 
was  an  argument  by  no  means  easy  to  oppose. 

The  chaplain  was  in  duty  bound  to  be  less 
demonstrative,  even  at  the  risk  of  being  less  con 
vincing.  But  as  a  compensation,  he  had  oppor 
tunities  of  learning  the  true  sentiments  of  many 
leading  citizens.  One  gentleman,  himself  a 
slaveholder,  who  frequently  visited  at  regimental 
headquarters,  though  heartily  condemning  the 
rebellion,  could  not  but  blame  the  Xorth  for  an 
impertinent  interference  in  the  affairs  of  the 
South.  Servitude,  in  his  opinion,  was  the  nor 
mal  condition  of  the  black  man,  and  it  was  only 


MASTER    AND    SLAVE.  49 

a  false  philanthropy  to  attempt  to  place  him 
anywhere  else. 

"But  why  not  hire  the  negro,  and  pay  him 
stated  wages?" 

"  Because  it  won't  do,  sir.  I  have  been  in 
public  life  for  more  than  twenty-five  years,  and 
pretend  to  know  something  about  this  matter ; 
and  I  give  it  to  you  as  my  decided  opinion  that 
the  scheme  is  not  practicable.  Hired  blacks,  or 
free  blacks,  are  too  lazy  to  work,  and  you  cannot 
coerce  them.  We  must  either  have  absolute  con 
trol  of  them,  such  as  ownership  gives,  or  dispense 
with  their  labor  altogether.  Take  the  cultiva 
tion  of  tobacco,  for  instance.  There  are  particu 
lar  times  when  a  delay  of  two  hours  would  ruin 
the  crop.  How  could  we  then  go  round  gather 
ing  up  hands  ?  And  knowing  him  as  we  do,  who 
would  trust  to  a  hired  negro  in  such  an  emer 
gency  ?  No,  sir ;  it  will  not  do.  And  we  find 
fault  with  you  men  of  the  North,  because  you  will 
meddle  with  a  thing  you  do  not  understand." 

We  ventured  the  remark,  that  there  were  men 
at  the  North  who  did  not  so  much  oppose  the 
peculiar  institution  of  slavery,  as  the  many  and 
great  evils  connected  with  it;  and  to  mention 
no  other,  the  breaking  up  of  the  family,  in  the 
separation  of  husband  and  wife,  and  of  parent 
and  child. 

""Well,  sir,  we  have  nothing  of  that  kind  in 
Maryland,  except  in  very  rare  cases.  I  have  had 

5 


50  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

some  experience  in  settling  up  estates;  and  where 
negroes  are  to  be  sold  in  this  State,  they  almost 
invariably  select  their  own  masters.  Let  me  give 
you  an  illustration.  A  friend  of  mine  owned  a 
black  man,  whose  son  belonged  to  another  part 
of  the  estate.  A  death  occurring,  the  estate  was 
to  be  sold,  servants  and  all.  Some  time  before 
the  sale,  the  boy  came  to  my  friend  with  the  re 
quest  that  he  would  buy  him.  The  gentleman 
did  not  need  him  at  the  time,  and  so  gave  an 
evasive  answer.  But  when  the  day  of  sale  came 
round,  of  the  several  persons  who  really  wanted 
Jack,  not  one  of  them  could  get  him  to  say  he 
would  go  to  live  with  him.  '  Massa  Judge  Du- 
vall  is  gwine  to  buy  me/  was  the  negro's  reply; 
and  as  no  one  else  would  bid  for  him,  the  Judge 
was  obliged  to  take  him.  So,  in  almost  every 
instance,  they  select  their  own  masters,  and  very 
rarely,  in  this  State,  are  families  divided  by  sale." 
^ew  ideas  have  been  developed  since  the  con 
versation  of  that  afternoon  in  March,  1862. 
Maryland  is  a  free  State ;  and  upon  her  own  soil 
the  practicability  of  free  black  labor  has  been 
clearly  demonstrated. 


THE    MERRIMAC.  51 


CHAPTER  III. 

SIDE    ISSUES    OF    THE    CONFLICT. 

MANY  bright  days  visited  us  during  that  winter 
in  Annapolis,  when  a  ride  to  the  camp  of  the  Ira 
Harris  Cavalry,  or  along  the  South  River,  or 
wherever  else  inclination  might  suggest,  was  a 
charming  relief  from  the  monotony  of  life  in 
quarters.  iSTor  were  we  so  far  from  the  front  as 
to  be  undisturbed  by  the  passing  events  of  the 
great  conflict. 

It  was  on  a  Sunday  afternoon,  just  after  reli 
gious  services  had  commenced,  that  an  order  was 
received  at  the  church  from  General  Hatch,  com 
manding  the  post,  requiring  one  company,  fully 
armed  and  equipped,  to  report  at  headquarters 
for  special  duty.  It  was  well  that  all  the  tacts  in 
the  case  did  not  come  out  at  once,  or  the  chap 
lain  could  scarcely  have  kept  the  attention  of  his 
remaining  audience. 

The  iron-clad  Merrimac,  w^ith  which  the  rebels 
had  been  threatening  our  navy  for  months,  had 
actually  encountered  and  sunk  the  frigates  Con 
gress  and  Cumberland,  and  was  reported  to  have 
passed  Fortress  Monroe  with  a  fleet  of  gun 
boats.  Great  excitement  prevailed  throughout 


52  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

the  city,  every  one  supposing  the  vessel  would 
sail  direct  to  Annapolis,  for  the  purpose  of  cap 
turing  the  extensive  commissary  stores  in  depot. 

Company  A  was  sent  down  the  bay  on  the 
steamer  G.  A.  Warner  to  watch  the  movements 
of  the  iron-clad,  and  to  give  notice  of  her  first 
approach.  All  the  steamers  in  port  were  ordered 
to  Baltimore,  as  in  case  of  attack  the  harbor  of 
Annapolis  was  without  adequate  defense ;  while 
many  of  the  citizens  were  preparing  to  fly  at  the 
moment  of  certain  danger.  But  most  oppor 
tunely,  a  new  opponent  appeared  in  the  shape 
of  a  Monitor,  to  contest  the  further  advance  of 
the  formidable  adversary.  After  a  severe  strug 
gle  of  three  hours,  the  Merrimac  gave  up  the 
fight,  and  in  a  disabled  condition  returned  to 
Norfolk. 

When  the  alarm  had  ceased,  and  all  things 
once  more  assumed  their  quiet  ways,  one  family 
at  least,  found  itself  greatly  benefited  by  the 
threatened  visit  of  the  rebel  iron-clad.  Among 
the  domestics  of  that  household  is  one  who  bears 
the  not  very  poetical  name  of  Jane.  She  is  de 
cidedly  hard  to  manage,  and  a  source  of  great 
vexation  to  the  female  portion  of  the  family. 
Various  and  novel  have  been  the  ways  resorted 
to  in  order  to  bring  her  to  terms.  A  year  or  two 
before,  a  negro  man  was  hanged  for  some  crime, 
and  among  those  sent  to  see  the  sight,  for  the 
good  it  might  do,  was  Jane.  But  strange  to  say, 


THE    SUBDUED    DOMESTIC.  53 

not  the  least  impression  was  made  upon  the 
incorrigible  colored  girl.  Hanging  is  not  an 
everyday  affair,  and  it  is  hard  to  tell  whether, 
in  course  of  time,  the  effect  on  Jane  might  not 
be  all  that  is  desired.  Up  to  that  eventful  Sun 
day  afternoon,  the  only  thing  that  subdued  the 
unruly  and  wayward  domestic,  was  to  sing: 

"  Hark  from  the  tombs,  a  doleful  sound." 

Whenever  coaxing  and  driving  and  the  whip 
failed  in  their  efforts,  some  one  of  the  family 
struck  up  the  notes  of  this  funeral  hymn. 

With  what  imaginary  terrors  Jane  had  invested 
the  Merrimac,  the  family  did  not  care  to  inquire. 
But  it  was  soon  discovered  that  a  threatened  visit 
from  the  hideous  monster,  whatever  the  terror 
might  be,  was  a  source  of  alarm  as  potent  as  that 
of  singing  the  hymn ;  and  as  the  new  remedy 
admitted  of  an  easier  application  than  the  old 
one,  it  was  ever  after  adopted  to  quiet  into  obe 
dience  the  obstreperous  Jane. 

Attachment  to  place  does  not  belong  to  the 
volunteer  soldier.  No  matter  how  comfortably 
he  may  be  quartered,  or  what  advantage  the 
locality  may  possess,  a  few  days  satisfy  him ;  and 
an  order  to  strike  tents,  though  full  of  uncertainty 
as  to  where  they  shall  be  pitched  again,  is  re 
ceived  with  joy.  When  the  Second  Maryland 
Regiment  relieved  us  of  duty  on  the  railroad, 
and  the  men  were  ordered  to  prepare  for  a  speedy 

5* 


54  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

move,  there  were  no  regrets  expressed  in  parting 
with  the  fine  accommodations  and  numerous  ad 
vantages  of  Annapolis. 

General  Burnside  was  to  be  reinforced.  Al 
ready  several  spirited  engagements  had  taken 
place,  achieving  important  victories  for  the 
Union  cause  on  the  North  Carolina  coast.  Much 
remained  yet  to  be  done ;  and  though  not  per 
mitted  to  take  part  in  the  first  operations,  there 
was  every  prospect  that  we  should  be  in  time  for 
these  later  movements.  But  after  days  of  ex 
pectation  and  waiting  for  the  order  to  embark  for 
North  Carolina,  the  regiment  was  sent  back  to 
guard  the  Annapolis  railroad. 

To  make  matters  still  more  unsatisfactory,  the 
Second  Maryland  at  once  took  shipping  for  For 
tress  Monroe,  General  Burnside  having  especi 
ally  named  it  as  the  regiment  at  Annapolis  he 
desired  to  have  sent  to  him.  The  general  fell  fully 
one-half  in  our  estimation.  We  forgot  our  early 
association  with  him  on  the  Upper  Potomac,  and 
seriously  doubted  the  abilities  of  an  officer  hav 
ing  so  little  discernment  as  to  prefer  the  Second 
Maryland  to  the  Eleventh  Pennsylvania. 

When  the  whole  truth  came  out,  it  was  found 
that  at  the  personal  request  of  a  number  of  prom 
inent  citizens,  who  preferred  to  have  a  Pennsyl 
vania  rather  than  a  Maryland  regiment  quartered 
among  them,  the  order  for  the  removal  of  the 
Eleventh  had  been  countermanded.  Cos.  C,  D, 


DEPARTURE    FOR    WASHINGTON.  55 

F,  and  H  took  the  stations  B,  E,  I,  and  K  had 
formerly  occupied  on  the  railroad,  while  Co.  A 
was  sent  to  do  guard  duty  at  Friendship,  twenty- 
five  miles  down  the  Chesapeake  Bay. 

Several  changes  occurred  among  the  commis 
sioned  officers  during  our  sojourn  in  the  capital 
of  Maryland.  The  vacancy  occasioned  in  Co. 
B,  by  the  appointment  of  Lieutenant  G-.  W. 
Thorn  Regimental  Quartermaster,  was  filled  by 
promoting  Second  Lieutenant  B.  F.  Hainesto  be 
first  lieutenant,  and  Sergeant  George  Tapp  to  be 
second  lieutenant.  Captain  Knox,  of  Co.  D, 
while  absent  on  recruiting  service,  died  at  his 
home  in  Jersey  Shore.  Governor  Curtin  com 
missioned  W.  E.  Sees,  of  Harrisburg,  to  fill  the 
vacancy,  who  proved  himself  an  officer  every 
way  worthy  and  competent. 

In  Co.  F,  Sergeant  Michael  J.  Kettering  was 
promoted  to  be  first  lieutenant,  in  place  of  Israel 
Uncapher,  appointed  adjutant;  Sergeant-Major 
Edward  H.  Gay  to  be  second  lieutenant,  in  place 
of  Lieutenant  W.  McCutcheon,  who  died  in  camp 
of  disease  contracted  in  the  service. 

The  evacuation  of  Centerville  and  Manassas 
Junction  by  the  rebels,  and  the  landing  of  a  large 
Federal  force  on  the  Yorktown  peninsula,  caused 
new  combinations  of  troops  to  be  made  through 
out  the  whole  theater  of  war;  and  during  the 
afternoon  of  April  9th,  the  cars  that  were  to  trans 
port  us  to  Washington  switched  off  in  front  of 
our  quarters. 


56  STORY   OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

The  embarking  of  eight  hundred  men,  with 
tents,  baggage,  and  quartermaster's  stores,  con 
sumed  what  was  left  of  daylight.  With  night 
came  the  most  violent  snow-storm  of  the  season, 
blocking  up  the  railroad,  and  holding  us  fast 
on  the  track  a  few  miles  from  the  place  of  starting 
until  the  next  morning.  It  was  a  freak  of  the 
weather  never  before  knowrn  in  that  latitude. 
But  the  warm  April  sun  soon  melted  the  snow, 
and  by  the  time  we  reached  Washington  every 
vestige  of  the  winter  storm  had  disappeared. 

Soldiers'  Home,  as  the  large  white-washed 
buildings  at  the  railroad  station  were  called,  good 
enough  in  itself,  was  but  a  poor  substitute  for  the 
excellent  quarters  vacated  in  St.  John's  College. 
But  every  day  was  so  full  of  conflicting  rumors 
that  the  style  of  our  quarters,  and  even  the  qual 
ity  of  the  rations,  were  forgotten  in  the  uncer 
tainty  of  our  destination. 

The  one  event  that  gave  character  to  our  short 
stay  in  Washington  was  the  review  of  the  Elev 
enth  by  President  Lincoln.  A  special  invitation 
was  sent  to  Colonel  Coulter  to  march  his  regi 
ment  to  the  White  House.  An  hour  later, 
donning  the  new  clothes  issued  to  them  by  the 
quartermaster,  our  boys  were  marching  up  Penn 
sylvania  Avenue.  Standing  on  the  steps  of  the 
Executive  Mansion,  as  we  then  saw  him  in  the 
clear  light  of  that  15th  of  April,  with  head  un 
covered,  and  a  kindly  smile  playing  over  his  face, 


REVIEW    BY    THE    PRESIDENT.  57 

bowing  to  the  ranks  of  men  that  passed  in  review 
before  him,  is  associated  our  most  vivid  recollec 
tion  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

The  next  day  the  regiment  took  boat  for  Alex 
andria,  and  from  thence  was  transported  by  rail 
to  Manassas  Junction. 


CHAPTER  IY. 

FROM    MARYLAND    TO    VIRGINIA. 

MANASSAS  was  the  name  formerly  given  to  a 
small  village  and  railroad  station  at  the  junction 
of  the  Alexandria  and  Orange  and  the  Manassas 
Gap  Railroads.  Xow  it  is  applied  indiscrimi 
nately  to  a  section  of  country  several  miles  in 
extent.  Xothing  was  left  of  the  village  but  con 
fused  heaps  of  bricks  and  mortar,  while  either 
side  of  the  railroad,  for  miles  in  extent,  was 
blackened  with  the  charred  remains  of  camp 
equipage,  baggage  and  stores,  that  the  rebels,  for 
want  of  transportation,  had  been  compelled  to 
destroy. 

The  Manassas  Gap  Road  extends  from  its  in 
tersection  with  the  Alexandria  and  Orange  Road, 
through  Front  Royal  to  Strasburg,  in  the  Shen- 
andoah  Valley.  Important  co-operative  move- 


58  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

ments  were  in  contemplation  from  all  points 
upon  Richmond,  making  it  necessary  that  this 
line  of  communication  should  be  kept  open.  The 
construction  corps  was  already  at  work  repairing 
damages  and  rebuilding  the  bridges  across  the 
Shenandoah  River,  while  a  guard  sufficient  to 
protect  the  road  from  guerrilla  attacks  extended 
along  its  entire  length. 

The  Eleventh  was  placed  on  duty  between  Ma- 
nassas  Junction  and  "White  Plains,  a  distance  of 
twenty-two  miles.  Major  Frink,  with  Cos.  B,  C, 
and  D,  was  stationed  at  White  Plains ;  Co.  E  at 
Broad  Run  ;  Co.  K  at  Thoroughfare  Gap  ;  Co.  I 
at  an  intermediate  point  between  K  and  H ;  Co. 
H  at  Haymarket;  Co.  F  at  Gainesville,  and  Co.  A 
between  F  and  the  Junction.  Regimental  head 
quarters  were  at  Manassas,  as  here  a  general  depot 
of  supplies  had  been  established,  and  direct  tele 
graphic  communication  with  the  department  at 
Washington. 

White  Plains,  Haymarket,  and  Gainesville  are 
small  villages,  rescued  from  oblivion  by  the 
fierce  engagements  associated  with  their  names. 
Thoroughfare  Gap  is  a  rocky  chasm  in  the  Bull 
Run  Mountains.  Through  this  natural  cut  the 

O 

railroad  passes,  and  Broad  Run,  a  limpid  stream 
on  whose  banks  are  several  valuable  mills,  also 
finds  a  passage  through  the  gap  to  the  Potomac. 
The  companies  at  all  the  several  points  had  the 
same  instructions  issued  to  them :  "  To  prevent  the 


MANASSAS   GAP   RAILROAD.  59 

destruction  of  the  track,  or  any  property  or  stock 
belonging  to  the  road ;  to  see  that  the  track  is  kept 
clear,  and  bridges  fully  protected;  to  prevent 
depredations  on  the  private  property  of  citizens; 
all  suspicious  persons  to  be  carefully  examined, 
and  if  circumstances  warrant,  to  be  sent  to  head 
quarters,  especially  all  mounted  men  found  with 
arms  near  the  road  or  any  of  the  pickets." 

The  duty  required  on  the  Manassas  road, 
though  the  same  in  kind  as  that  performed  at 
Annapolis,  was  more  exciting  because  demand 
ing  greater  vigilance. 

We  had  passed  from  comparatively  loyal  Mary 
land  into  positively  disloyal  Virginia,  where  the 
most  peaceable  citizen  was  ready  to  strike  a  blow 
secretly,  when  he  could  not  do  so  openly.  Guard 
duty  assumes  a  very  different  character  under 
such  surroundings.  It  loses  every  feature  of  mo 
notony;  and  if  the  ears  of  the  picket  do  not  put 
on  the  dimensions  of  those  of  the  rabbit,  he  has 
at  least  all  the  acuteness  of  hearing  accredited  to 
that  watchful  little  quadruped.  The  gentlest 
zephyr  does  not  loosen  from  its  stem  a  solitary 
leaf  without  arresting  his  attention,  while  his  eye 
possesses  such  magic  power  that  many  times  a 
moss-grown  stump,  or  a  stray  horse,  has  been 
metamorphosed  into  an  armed  rebel. 

Co.  H  was  stationed  at  Haymarket.  It  was 
known  that  several  of  Ashby's  Cavalry  had  re 
sided  in  the  town,  and  a  strict  guard  was  kept 


60  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

over  all  the  inhabitants.  Toward  twelve  o'clock 
of  a  particular  night,  when  quiet  reigned  through 
out  the  quarters  of  Co.  H,  and  all  were  wrapped 
in  soundest  sleep  save  the  trusty  sentinel,  whose 
duty  it  was  to  watch  for  danger,  an  unusual  com 
motion  was  observed  throughout  the  village.  The 
bright  light  in  one  house,  that  had  first  attracted 
the  notice  of  the  guard,  was  soon  seen  in  several 
others.  The  captain  was  aroused,  and  having 
satisfied  himself  that  something  more  than  ordi 
nary  was  going  on,  the  men  were  ordered  to  fall 
into  line  \vith  the  utmost  dispatch  and  quiet.  In 
a  moment  sixty  men,  with  guns  and  cartridge- 
boxes,  stood  in  their  places.  All  could  now  see 
lights  flickering  in  half  a  dozen  windows,  and 
even  the  fast  trotting  of  horses  was  distinctly 
heard. 

It  was  enough.  Either  Ashby  meditated  an 
assault  on  Co.  H,  or  else  some  of  his  bold  parti 
sans  were  on  a  visit  to  friends.  But,  in  the  pres 
ent  state  of  affairs,  a  visit  could  not  be  allowed,  and 
an  assault  must  be  resisted.  The  plan  of  attack 
was  to  surround  the  town,  and  then  close  in  toward 
that  point  where  suspicion  seemed  the  strongest. 
By  the  time  these  arrangements  were  completed, 
all  the  lights  had  disappeared,  except  in  the  win 
dows  of  a  single  house,  and  at  this  one  the  sev 
eral  squads  into  which  the  company  had  been 
divided  at  last  met.  The  captain  boldly  entered, 
demanding  the  surrender  of  the  impertinent  foe 


THE    MIDNIGHT   ALARM.  61 

who  had  dared  to  plot  mischief  at  such  an  un 
seasonable  hour.  A  small  man,  with  spectacles 
on  his  nose,  and  of  demeanor  far  too  quiet  for  a 
soldier,  made  his  appearance.  In  answer  to  the 
captain,  he  announced  himself  a  physician,  called 
on  professional  business;  and  that  the  good  peo 
ple  of  the  house  were  rejoicing  in  a  small  addition 
to  the  male  department  of  the  family. 

Early  in  the  month  of  May,  a  citizen  brought 
information  to  White  Plains  that  two  deserters 
from  the  Union  army  had  taken  possession  of 
a  forsaken  residence,  some  miles  distant  in  the 
direction  of  Warren  ton,  and  were  threatening 
the  lives  of  all  around  them. 

It  was  feared  that  the  story  might  be  intended 
to  entrap  our  men;  but  a  detachment  sufficiently 
strong  to  protect  itself,  was  sent  out  under  com 
mand  of  Captain  Sees.  When  the  party  came 
near  the  house,  a  squad  of  cavalry,  drawn  up  in 
line  of  battle,  was  in  full  view.  Selecting  the 
best  possible  position  of  defense,  Captain  Sees 
awaited  the  result  of  what  he  now  felt  certain 
to  be  a  scheme  to  capture  himself  and  men.  In 
a  little  while,  two  horsemen  rode  out  from  the 
line,  waving  their  hats.  At  first  no  attention 
was  paid  to  the  movement;  but  as  the  cavalrymen 
continued  to  advance,  the  captain  stepped  for 
ward  to  meet  them,  when  they  were  found  to  be 
a  part  of  Colonel  Geary's  command,  stationed  at 
Salem,  and  out  on  the  same  errand  as  himself. 

6 


62  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

Coming  up  to  the  house,  the  cavalry  discov 
ered  that  a  party  of  citizens  had  anticipated  them ; 
and  in  their  attack  upon  the  deserters,  one  of 
them  had  been  killed,  but  at  a  loss  of  two  of  their 
own  number,  of  whom  was  Mr.  Scott,  a  prominent 
citizen  of  Warrenton  and  a  leading  member  of 
the  bar.  The  surviving  deserter  made  good  his 
escape. 

The  next  day  after  the  affair,  the  reported  de 
serter  came  to  Captain  Keenairs  quarters  at 
Thoroughfare  Gap,  and  gave  himself  up.  He 
and  his  companion  belonged  to  the  Seventh  "Wis 
consin  Regiment.  While  on  picket  duty,  they 
had  been  captured  by  Ashby's  cavalry;  but  mak 
ing  their  escape  in  a  few  days  after,  were  leisurely 
getting  back  to  Warrenton  to  join  their  regiment. 
The  only  depredations  committed  were  for  some 
thing  to  eat.  When  attacked  by  the  party  of 
citizens,  only  one  of  them  was  in  the  house,  the 
other  being  some  distance  from  it.  The  man  on 
the  outside  was  without  arms  of  any  kind,  and 
surrounded  by  half  a  score  of  men.  But  instead 
of  attempting  to  secure  him  as  a  prisoner,  and 
return  him  to  his  regiment,  he  was  shot  dead, 
three  balls  entering  the  body.  His  companion 
witnessed  the  whole  scene,  and  having  both  guns 
in  his  possession,  and  anticipating  a  similar  fate, 
fired  each  from  an  open  window  with  fatal  effect. 

The  prisoner  was  retained  in  our  possession 
until  we  reached  Falmouth,  and  then  sent  to  Gen 
eral  McDowell's  headquarters. 


A    CLERICAL    CAPTIVE.  63 

Colonel  Coulter's  stringent  order  to  arrest  all 
mounted  citizens,  found  with  arms  near  our  lines, 
was  not  based  entirely  upon  suspicion.  Several 
men  of  Colonel  Geary's  command  had  already 
been  murdered  on  picket;  a  fact  that  fully  re 
vealed  the  animus  of  the  people  around  us.  Some 
of  the  arrests  may  have  caused  great  personal 
inconvenience;  but  the  convenience  of  the  few 
had  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  safety  of  the  many. 

A  clergyman  of  the  Southern  Methodist 
Church,  named  "Williams,  and  in  charge  of  War- 
renton  Circuit,  was  among  those  arrested  and 
brought  to  headquarters  at  Manassas.  He  was 
quite  indignant  that  our  pickets  should  molest 
him;  but  when  questioned  as  to  the  propriety  of 
carrying  a  loaded  revolver  in  his  saddle  pockets, 
he  could  give  no  satisfactory  answer.  In  respect 
for  his  profession,  the  clerical  captive,  instead  of 
being  placed  in  the  guard-house,  was  handed  over 
to  the  charge  of  the  chaplain,  who  tried  to  make 
him  feel  that  he  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
generous  captors.  We  gave  him  supper,  shared 
with  him  our  blankets  when  night  came  on,  and 
breakfast  in  the  morning.  The  colonel  having 
assured  himself,  by  telegraphing  to  Warrenton, 
that  Mr.  "Williams  was  practicing  no  imposition, 
he  was  at  once  released,  and  furnished  with  a 
pass  through  our  lines;  leaving  his  carnal  weap 
ons  in  the  hands  of  the  soldier  who  made  the 
arrest. 


64  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

No  class  of  men  did  more  to  embitter  the 
Southern  feeling,  and  urge  on  to  open  rebellion* 
than  the  ministers  of  the  Southern  Methodist 
Church.  Mr.  Williams  was  present  at  the  con 
ference  that  met  in  Norfolk.  The  iron-clad 
Merrimac  was  nearly  finished,  and  the  entire 
conference,  by  special  invitation,  paid  a  visit  to 
the  vessel  as  she  lay  in  her  moorings.  Speeches 
were  made  in  the  highest  style  of  secession  elo 
quence  ;  hopes  were  expressed ,  and  prayers  offered 
up  for  the  success  of  the  huge  monster  in  her 
work  of  ruin  and  death.  Many  of  these  men, 
forsaking  the  peaceful  calling  of  the  gospel,  took 
the  sword,  and  by  the  sword  they  perished. 
Others  of  them,  through  the  madness  of  rebellion, 
drifting  away  from  the  principles  and  practices 
of  the  religion  of  Christ,  are  now  moral  wrecks, 
stranded  on  the  shores  of  time. 


BULL    RUN    BATTLE-FIELD.  65 


CHAPTER  V. 

MANASSAS    JUNCTION    AND    ITS    ENVIRONS. 

AT  Mauassas  we  were  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Bull  Run  battle-field.  Xot  curiosity  only,  but 
such  an  interest  in  that  event  as  nearly  related 
us  to  the  actors,  prompted  an  early  visit. 

Near  regimental  headquarters  was  Fort  Beau- 
regard,  a  large  and  formidable  earth- work;  while 
at  different  points  on  the  Manassas  plain,  and  in 
commanding  positions,  were  several  other  works 
of  lesser  magnitude.  Two  miles  distant,  on  the 
road  to  Centerville,  stood  the  large  brick  man 
sion  of  Mr.  Weir,  Beauregard's  headquarters. 
Here  the  Confederate  general  and  his  staff  re 
mained  during  the  attack  at  Blackburn's  Ford, 
July  18th,  which  so  greatly  deranged  the  plans 
of  McDowell,  who  intended  that  General  Tyler 
should  make  a  mere  feint  movement  at  that  point, 
while  the  main  force  was  making  the  transit  of 
Bull  Run  at  the  Stone  Bridge  and  further  up  to 
the  right. 

Crossing  Bull  Run  at  Blackburn's  Ford,  where 
the  stream  is  perhaps  fifty  yards  wide,  we  rode  to 
Centerville.  The  whole  intermediate  space  of  ter- 

6* 


66  STORY    OF   THE   REGIMENT. 

ritory  was  a  chain  of  breast-works  and  fortifica 
tions.  Everything  that  industry  and  skill  could 
devise  to  make  Manassas  impregnable  was  done; 
and  if  General  McClellan  had  marched  from 
Washington  direct  upon  those  works,  in  the 
opening  of  the  spring  of  1862,  after  having  al 
lowed  the  rebels  so  long  a  time  to  perfect  them, 
it  would  have  been  a  disastrous  undertaking. 

Turning  from  Centerville,  we  continued  our 
ride  along  the  Warrenton  pike  to  Stone  Bridge. 
It  is  the  highway  across  Bull  Run,  the  northern 
bank  of  which  is  a  steep,  rocky  bluff.  In  that 
direction  our  forces  were  retreating  on  the  21st 
of  July;  and  standing  on  the  spot,  one  could 
easily  imagine  how  the  blockading  of  the  bridge 
by  broken-down  wagons  and  abandoned  gun- 
carriages,  would  worse  confound  the  scattered 
ranks  of  a  retreating  army. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  bridge,  and  ascending 
a  gentle  slope,  we  were  in  full  view  of  every 
point  of  the  battle-field,  from  right  to  left.  Near 
by  is  the  dwelling  of  Henry  Robinson.  The  old 
negro  man  remained  in  his  house  during  the 
engagement  of  July  21st,  though  it  was  struck 
several  times,  and  in  one  instance  a  cannon  ball 
passed  directly  through  its  walls.  AVhen  asked 
why  he  did  not  leave  and  seek  a  safer  place,  he 
replied: 

"You  see,  massa,  dey  had  no  safe  places  dat 
day.  Ole  Henry  'spected  to  git  killed  anyhow, 


BULL    BUN    BATTLE-FIELD.  67 

and  he  tink  he  jist  as  lief  die  in  de  ole  house  as 
anywhare  else." 

After  the  defeat  of  the  Federal  army,  Manas- 
sas  became  a  spot  of  great  interest  to  Southern 
ers,  who  visited  it  in  large  numbers.  The  old 
man's  house  stood  so  near  where  the  principal 
engagement  took  place  that  no  one  came  to 
the  battle-field  without  making  him  a  visit.  He 
entertained  us  for  a  long  time  with  the  opinions 
and  remarks  of  rebel  officers,  as  he  had  often 
heard  them  express  themselves,  in  reference  to 
that  battle.  All  agreed  that  early  in  the  day 
Beauregard  acknowledged  himself  defeated,  and 
would  have  retreated  but  for  Johnson,  who,  ar 
riving  on  the  ground  some  hours  before  his  army, 
urged  him  to  hold  on  until  his  forces  should  come 
up.  The  arrival  of  several  thousand  fresh  troops 
was  more  than  our  exhausted  men  could  endure. 
Still,  at  the  first,  they  retired  in  good  order;  the 
panic  which  resulted  so  disastrously  having  oc 
curred  far  in  the  rear  of  that  part  of  the  army 
actually  engaged  with  the  enemy. 

In  the  sickening  details  of  a  hundred  battles, 
the  country  has  not  forgotten  the  indignities 
offered  to  our  killed  and  wounded  on  this  first 
field.  Many  of  its  dead  were  left  unburied,  as 
the  bleached  human  bones  lying  on  the  surface 
too  plainly  declared,  while  of  those  buried,  arms 
and  limbs  and  heads  were  seen  projecting  from 
the  shallow  graves. 


68  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

Every  available  spot  of  the  country  over  which 
we  passed  had  been  used  as  a  camp.  The  quar 
ters  were  comfortable  log  cabins  with  clap-board 
roofs,  indicating  that  a  large  army,  well  cared 
for,  had  spent  the  winter  at  Manassas. 

The  village  of  White  Plains  escaped,  in  a  great 
measure,  the  devastation  of  Manassas.  It  was 
the  location  of  the  rebel  general  hospital,  and  the 
numerous  graves  on  the  hillside  above  the  town 
truthfully  told  how  severely  the  enemy  suffered 
in  his  first  great  battle,  and  that  fell  disease,  during 
the  long  winter  months,  had  almost  decimated  en 
tire  regiments. 

Several  brothers  by  the  name  of  Foster,  the 
owners  of  valuable  estates,  resided  in  the  village. 
Colonel  Ashby  lived  at  Markham,  some  miles 
distant  up  the  railroad,  but  his  famous  cavalry 
troop,  that  afterward  degenerated  into  Moseby's 
guerrillas,  was  made  up  of  the  best  young  men  of 
this  and  the  adjoining  neighborhoods.  For  a 
number  of  years  tournaments,  with  Col.  Ashby 
at  their  head,  pronounced  the  best  equestrian 
in  Virginia,  were  among  the  chief  attractions 
of  Warrenton  Springs.  The  young  men  of  the 
vicinity  became  most  expert  horsemen,  and  when 
the  war  broke  out,  the  Colonel  had  a  troop  of 
unequaled  riders  ready  at  hand. 

In  company  with  Dr.  Jackson  and  Captain 
Shanks,  the  chaplain  found  a  home  for  several 
days  at  the  house  of  Thomas  Foster,  the  Quar- 


ABSCONDING    DARKIES.  69 

termaster  of  Ashby's  Cavalry.  The  family  con 
sisted  of  the  wife,  two  daughters,  and  an  elderly 
uncle,  their  only  male  protector.  It  was  to  be 
expected  that  there  would  be  more  or  less  re 
straint  in  our  social  intercourse  with  those  whose 
dearest  friends  we  could  only  regard  as  our  bitter 
enemies.  But  underneath  all  the  studied  polite 
ness  of  which  we  were  the  recipients  in  that  ele 
gant  residence,  there  was  a  stratum  of  the  old 
Virginia  hospitality  that  nothing  but  the  actual 
existence  of  war  could  keep  from  coming  to  the 
surface. 

Whatever  was  once  said  of  the  masses  of  the 
South  not  understanding  the  questions  at  issue 
between  the  two  sections  of  the  country,  at  no 
time  could  it  ever  apply  to  the  more  intelligent 
portions.  The  doctrine  of  State  rights  had  been 
thoroughly  studied  and  as  heartily  believed.  In 
their  libraries  and  on  their  tables  were  to  be 
found  the  works  of  Nott  and  Gliddon,  and  Mor 
ton,  plausible  theories,  all  going  to  prove  that 
the  white  man  and  the  negro  are  of  distinct 
races ;  that  the  negro  belongs  to  an  inferior  order 
of  beings,  and  finds  his  proper  condition  only  in 
subjection  to  the  superior.  With  this  class  of 
persons  the  war  was  a  contest  of  ideas,  thoroughly 
understood  because  thoroughly  studied. 

At  an  early  period  in  the  war  Alexandria  came 
to  be  regarded  as  the  negro's  paradise.  Without 
newspapers  or  telegraph,  he  soon  learned  that  to 


70  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

reach  that  point  was  to  be  no  longer  a  slave. 
White  Plains  was  the  general  rendezvous  of  ab 
sconding  negroes  for  a  large  section  of  country, 
and  scarcely  a  train  of  cars  passed  down  the  road 
without  its  complement  of  human  freight.  Some 
times  they  came  to  the  station  in  pairs,  and  again 
in  squads,  big  and  little,  old  and  young,  carrying 
all  their  worldly  possessions,  rolled  up  in  bundles, 
on  their  heads,  or  slung  across  their  shoulders, 
having  little  conception  of  where  they  were  go 
ing — except  to  some  wonderful  place  called  Alex 
andria — or  what  they  would  do.  They  knew 
they  would  be/ree,  and  that  fact  answered  every 
question. 

On  one  particular  day  a  motley  group  of  them, 
not  less  than  twenty  in  all,  came  to  White  Plains 
in  an  ox-cart.  Scarcely  had  they  unloaded  them 
selves  on  the  platform,  when  a  panting  and  foam 
ing  horse,  carrying  an  excited-looking  rider,  stop 
ped  in  front  of  headquarters.  The  man  on 
horseback  eagerly  demanded  where  he  might 
find  the  commanding  officer,  as  he  had  special 
business  with  him.  Every  one  was  on  the  qui 
vive,  and  with  the  hope  that  he  might  be  the 
bearer  of  such  stirring  news  as  would  cause  a 
speedy  move,  the  rider  was  directed  to  Major 
Frink.  But  his  business  was  altogether  of  a  per 
sonal  nature. 

"  Major,"  said  he,  "those  people  out  there,  who 
have  just  arrived  in  that  ox-cart,  belong  to  me, 
and  I  want  you  to  compel  them  to  return  home." 


ABSCONDING    DARKIES.  71 

"Well,  sir,"  replied  the  major,  "that  kind  of 
work  is  not  exactly  in  my  line.  If  your  people 
wish  to  return  home,  not  a  man  of  my  command 
will  interfere ;  but  if  they  do  not  desire  to  re 
turn,  so  far  from  compelling  them  myself,  I  can 
not  even  allow  their  owner  to  compel  them." 

The  Virginian  was  not  satisfied  with  the  ma 
jor's  decision,  and  inquired  where  he  might  find 
the  commander  of  the  regiment.  He  was  in 
formed  that  regimental  headquarters  were  at 
Manassas  Junction,  and  as  his  slaves  had  already 
got  aboard  of  the  train,  which  in  the  mean  time 
had  come  up  to  the  station,  their  owner  took  a 
place  near  them. 

But  it  so  happened  that  while  conductors  of 
trains  were  directed  to  allow  all  negroes  free  pas 
sage  to  Alexandria,  without  let  or  hinderance,  no 
white  person  could  travel  over  the  road,  to  any 
point  whatever,  without  a  pass  from  the  nearest 
post  commander.  In  the  hurry  to  keep  in  sight 
of  his  property,  the  white  man  had  forgotten  this 
salutary  arrangement.  When  the  train  was  ready 
to  start  the  conductor  politely  told  him  that  he 
could  not  carry  him  to  Manassas  without  a  pass 
from  Major  Frink.  Enraged  beyond  endurance, 
and  too  haughty  to  ask  permission  to  ride  where 
his  slaves  could  go  with  impunity,  he  left  the 
train,  people  and  all,  swearing  bitter  vengeance 
against  the  whole  ^"orth. 

Many  furtive  glances,  mingled  with   evident 


72  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

fear  and  dread,  had  been  cast  by  the  fugitives  at 
their  old  master.  But  when  they  saw  him  stand, 
ing  on  the  platform,  and  felt  the  train  moving  on 
the  iron  track  beneath  them,  the  comical  shrug 
of  the  shoulder,  and  the  laugh-provoking  grin 
that  spread  over  their  ebony  faces,  were  silent 
expressions  of  joy  at  the  sudden  breaking  of 
life-long  bonds. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

MARCHING    SOUTHWARD. 

AN  order  from  General  HartsuiF,  directing  Col 
onel  Coulter  to  report  his  command  at  Falmouth, 
indefinitely  postponed  several  proposed  expedi 
tions  from  different  company  stations  in  search 
of  Ashby's  Cavalry. 

The  march  from  Manassas,  on  the  12th  of  May, 
was  our  first  going  afoot.  Hitherto  the  regiment 
had  been  transported  in  cars  or  on  steamboats. 
During  the  campaigns  that  followed,  the  men  re 
peatedly  traveled  twenty  to  thirty  miles  a  day, 
but  the  sore  feet,  and  the  weary  lengths  to  which 
those  ten  miles  of  that  breaking  in  march  stretched 
themselves,  are  remembered  to  this  hour. 

The  route  over  which  we  passed — by  way  of 


FREDERICKSBURG.  73 

Catlett's  Station,  Bristersburg,  and  Hartwood 
Church — became  the  track  of  the  army  in  its 
after  surges  back  and  forth  between  Washington 
and  the  Rappahannock.  Then  but  few  troops 
had  marched  that  way,  and  the  country  was  lux 
uriating  in  the  undisturbed  beauties  of  early 
spring.  Handsome  residences  lined  the  roadside, 
while  the  first  view  of  Fredericksburg,  and  those 
hights  that  are  now  historic,  was  enchanting. 
In  three  days  after  leaving  Manassas  Junction 
the  Eleventh  reported  to  General  Hartsuff,  and 
was  permanently  assigned  to  Hartsuff's  Brigade 
of  Ord's  Division,  McDowell's  Corps. 

The  dingy  little  village  of  Falmouth  was  the 
gathering  place  of  McDowell's  troops,  intended 
to  co-operate  with  McClellan  against  Richmond. 
Large  details  of  men  were  engaged  in  repairing 
the  railroad  from  Aquia  Creek,  and  in  rebuilding 
the  bridge  across  the  Rappahannock.  An  ex 
tensive  foundery  located  in  Fredericksburg,  where 
shot  and  shell  were  cast  for  the  rebel  army,  was 
turned  into  a  Union  workshop,  as  artisans  of 
every  kind,  from  the  master  mechanic  to  the 
youngest  apprentice,  helped  to  swell  the  ranks 
of  the  great  Federal  army. 

Fredericksburg  is  one  of  the  ancient  towns  of 
Virginia.  Walking  leisurely  through  its  clean 
and  shady  streets,  filled  with  sauntering  soldiers 
dressed  in  blue,  there  was  an  air  of  peaceful  quiet 
strongly  in  contrast  with  the  noisy  and  bustling 


74  STORY   OF   THE   REGIMENT. 

camps  across  the  river.  It  was  in  this  place  that 
the  mother  of  Washington  lived  during  the  war 
of  the  Revolution,  and  here,  too,  is  the  burial 
place  of  that  illustrious  woman. 

More  than  thirty  years  ago,  a  gentleman  of 
New  York  proposed,  at  his  own  expense,  to  erect 
a  monument  to  the  memory  of  Mary  Washing 
ton.  The  corner  stone  was  laid  near  her  grave 
with  appropriate  ceremonies  by  Andrew  Jack 
son,  President  of  the  United  States.  But  after 
the  work  had  progressed  to  the  completion  of  the 
pedestal,  commercial  reverses  overtook  the  pa 
triotic  designer,  and  the  monument  has  never 
been  finished.  To  show  their  utter  contempt  for 
everything  Northern,  the  chivalry  of  Fredericks- 
burg,  in  the  preparations  to  defend  themselves 
against  the  ruthless  Yankee  invaders,  made  of 
this  pedestal  a  target  for  their  rifle  shots.  With 
its  face  marred  and  indented,  and  the  corners 
broken  off  by  glancing  balls,  we  could  only  re 
gard  it  as  a  monument  of  the  ingratitude  and 
hate  possible  to  the  human  heart. 

The  denizens  of  the  old  town  were  amazed, 
not  only  at  the  versatility  of  the  Yankee  genius, 
but  at  the  dreadful  earnestness  with  which  North 
ern  soldiers  went  to  work.  It  was  almost  too 
much  to  believe,  though  seen  with  their  own 
eyes,  that  in  five  days  a  railroad  bridge  could  be 
built  across  the  Rappahannock  River.  An  old 
Virginia  esquire,  who  could  be  seen  every  day 


A    NIGHT    MARCH.  75 

closely  watching  the  rapid  progress  of  the  busy 
workmen,  was  conquered  by  the  first  locomotive 
that  went  puffing  and  screaming  over  the  new 
and  substantial  structure. 

"Don't  burn  any  more  bridges,"  said  he.  "It 
is  all  of  no  use.  You  might  just  as  well  attempt 
to  keep  rats  out  of  a  meal  chest,  as  to  keep  back 
these  Yankees.  If  there  is  no  other  way  of  get 
ting  over  rivers,  they  will  invent  a  plan  to  fill 
their  knapsacks  with  wind,  and  cross  on  them!" 

Everything  was  now  in  readiness  for  the  ad 
vance  of  McDowell's  Corps  to  Hanover  Court 
House,  where  it  was  to  form  the  right  wing  of 
the  Peninsular  army.  Surplus  baggage  had 
been  sent  to  Washington ;  immense  depots  of 
supplies  established  at  Falmouth;  and  when, 
toward  sundown  of  that  Sabbath  afternoon,  May 
25th,  the  order  to  march  was  received,  officers 
and  men  had  marked  out  the  course  as  across  the 
Rappahannock  and  through  Fredericksburg. 

But  the  head  of  the  column  turned  in  the  op 
posite  direction.  The  bright  afternoon  was  suc 
ceeded  by  a  cloudy  night;  and  as  we  moved 
along  in  silence  over  those  unknown  Virginia 
roads,  a  thousand  conjectures  as  to  where  we 
were  going,  and  why  we  were  going,  floated 
through  the  mind. 

An  hour  or  two  after  midnight  the  troops  bi 
vouacked,  as  morning  revealed,  near  Aquia 
Creek.  It  then  began  to  be  know^n  that  Stone- 


76  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

wall  Jackson  had  driven  General  Banks  through 
the  Shenandoah  Valley,  and  across  the  Potomac, 
and  rumor  added  that  the  rebels  were  threatening 
an  attack  on  Washington,  for  whose  defense  Ord's 
Division  had  been  ordered  northward  with  all 
possible  haste.  Transports  were  already  at  the 
wharf  to  convey  us  to  Alexandria,  and  at  an 
early  hour  the  troops  began  to  embark. 

Aquia  Creek  enters  into  the  Potomac  River 
forty  miles  below  Washington.  The  banks  are 
high  and  precipitous;  and  for  a  long  time  during 
the  fall  and  winter  of  1861,  the  rebel  guns, 
mounted  on  fortifications  at  the  mouth  of  the 
creek,  completely  blockaded  the  Potomac.  The 
position  was  well  chosen,  having  command  of  the 
river  up  and  down  for  several  miles. 

It  was  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  before 
our  vessel  steamed  out  into  the  channel;  four 
or  five  hours  later,  we  were  safely  moored  at  the 
Alexandria  dock. 

Neither  the  sail  up  the  river,  delightful  in  it 
self,  nor  the  several  points  of  interest  to  be  seen, 
— among  others  Mount  Yernon  and  Fort  Wash 
ington, —  could  keep  awake  troops  tired  and 
fatigued  by  the  long  march  of  the  preceding 
night.  All  were  in  the  proper  state  of  body  and 
mind  to  hear,  with  great  complacency  of  feeling, 
when  the  steamer  reached  Alexandria,  that  we 
should  remain  on  shipboard  until  morning,  and 
each  one  adjusted  himself  for  an  undisturbed 
night's  sleep. 


PURSUIT    OF   JACKSON.  77 

Alas,  for  human  expectations.  In  the  midst 
of  peaceful  dreams,  the  command — "fall  in" — 
aroused  every  sleeping  soldier.  Half  an  hour 
later  we  were  moving  toward  the  railroad  depot. 
It  was  believed  that  the  rebels,  successful  in  driv 
ing  Banks  across  the  Potomac,  were  concentra 
ting  large  forces  at  Manassas  Junction  for  an 
attack  on  Alexandria  and  the  capital. 

The  city  was  wrapt  in  slumber,  and  the  only 
sound  that  awoke  the  midnight  stillness  was  the 
measured  tread  of  the  men  marching  through  its 
deserted  streets.  Long  trains  of  cars,  filled  with 
soldiers,  were  soon  moving  out  from  the  station, 
and  proceeding  cautiously  along  the  road,  send 
ing  out  skirmishers  from  Union  Mills,  Fairfax 
Station,  and  Bull  Run,  the  Division  reached 
Manassas  Junction  a  little  after  daylight. 

Banks  had  retreated  before  the  advancing 
forces  of  Stonewall  Jackson;  and  Washington 
City  was  in  a  state  of  feverish  excitement,  lest 
the  next  hour  would  bring  the  impetuous  rebel 
thundering  at  its  gates.  But  not  a  foe  was  to  be 
seen  near  Manassas.  The  wily  Jackson  had  no 
intention  of  coming  in  that  direction.  His  flank 
movement  was  successfully  executed.  McDowell 
had  been  diverted  from  Hanover  Court  House, — 
a  movement  General  Lee  greatly  feared, — and 
the  rebel  army,  with  all  possible  speed,  was  mak 
ing  its  way  down  the  valley  toward  Richmond. 

The  authorities  at  Washington,  supposing  that 
7* 


78  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

Jackson  might  be  intercepted  in  bis  homeward 
march,  ordered  McDowell  to  move  on  to  Stras- 
burg.  While  one  column  was  approaching  from 
the  east,  Fremont  was  to  cross  the  mountains  from 
the  west,  and  between  the  upper  and  the  nether 
mill-stone  the  rebel  general  was  to  suffer  for  his 
temerity. 

Our  line  of  march,  that  commenced  on  the 
morning  of  May  29th,  lay  along  the  Manassas  Gap 
Eailroad.  We  bivouacked  the  first  night  at 
Thoroughfare  Gap,  and  on  the  second  night  at 
Oak  Hill,  the  birthplace  and  residence  of  Chief 
Justice  Marshall.  The  house  is  in  the  old  st3*le 
of  architecture.  Antique  furniture,  the  product 
of  a  past  century,  filled  the  rooms,  whose  walls, 
wainscoted  from  floor  to  ceiling  with  polished 
oak  panels,  were  adorned  with  many  choice 
paintings.  Here  was  written  Marshall's  Life  of 
"Washington.  The  estate  is  in  possession  of  a 
grandson;  but  the  numerous  descendants  of  the 
chief  justice  residing  in  the  neighborhood,  for 
getting  the  virtues  of  their  illustrious  ancestor, 
gave  all  their  influence  to  break  down  the  gov 
ernment  that  Marshall  labored  to  render  firm 
and  enduring. 

It  was  nine  o'clock  on  the  third  night  before 
we  reached  Front  Royal.  The  march  of  the  last 
day  was  long  and  wearisome,  and  for  several 
hours  during  the  latter  part  of  it,  through  a  vio 
lent  rain-storm.  A  black  cloud  shut  out  moon 


PURSUIT    OF   JACKSON.  79 

and  stars,  and  when  the  halt  was  ordered,  we 
were  lighted  to  our  bivouac,  in  a  thicket  of 
pines,  by  vivid  flashes  of  lightning  that  followed 
each  other  in  quick  succession.  But  much  of 
the  weariness  of  the  march  was  forgotten  in  the 
striking  beauty  of  the  country  through  which  we 
passed.  The  Blue  Ridge  was  in  sight  from  early 
morning,  and  toward  evening  the  hills  began  to 
close  us  in  on  every  side.  An  hour  before  sun 
down  the  head  of  the  column  entered  Manassas 
Gap,  a  break  in  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains,  which 
looks  like  one  of  nature's  efforts  to  help  man. 
Without  it  the  mountain  would  be  an  insuperable 
barrier  against  railroad  or  stage-coach.  Un- 
equaled  for  its  wild  sublimity,  it  was  rendered 
doubly  impressive  by  the  army  of  men  and  horse 
crowding  its  way  through  the  narrow  defile. 

Front  Royal  was  the  scene  of  the  gallant  re 
sistance  made  by  Kenly's  Maryland  Regiment 
against  Jackson's  advance  guard.  But  before 
assistance  could  be  sent  from  Strasburg,  they 
were  overcome  by  numbers,  and  most  of  the 
regiment  fell  on  the  battle-field,  or  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy. 

Belle  Boyd,  whose  subsequent  career  as  a  rebel 
spy  has  made  her  name  notorious,  appeared  first 
at  Front  Royal.  For  several  days  prior  to  the 
attack  she  had  been  a  visitor  in  the  town,  and 
through  her  information  of  the  isolated  position 
of  Kenly's  command  was  communicated  to  the 
rebel  general. 


80  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

The  long  roll  of  the  drum  early  next  morning 
brought  each  man  from  his  hiding-place  in  the 
pines,  and  the  march  was  continued  toward 
Strasburg.  The  clouds  had  all  cleared  away,  and 
a  bright  sun  shone  upon  mountain  and  valley. 
Ord's  entire  division  had  now  come  together. 
The  beautiful  morning — the  picturesque  sur 
roundings — the  fine  appearance  of  the  troops — 
all  conspired  to  make  a  scene  full  of  spirit  and 
animation. 

The  sight  must  have  been  as  inspiring  to  Gen 
eral  McDowell,  who  had  accompanied  the  divi 
sion  from  Falmouth,  as  to  others;  for  not  more 
than  three  miles  from  our  bivouac  the  troops 
were  drawn  up  in  line  for  a  grand  review.  But 
Stonewall  Jackson  did  not  choose  to  wait  several 
hours  on  our  parade.  While  we  were  thus 
amusing  ourselves,  he  was  pushing  rapidly  south 
ward  through  Strasburg,  Fremont's  advance  com 
ing  up  barely  in  time  to  exchange  a  few  shots 
with  the  Confederate  rear-guard. 

Next  day  HartsufTs  Brigade  was  advanced 
across  the  South  Fork  of  the  Shenandoah,  and 
again,  on  the  day  following,  across  the  North 
Fork,  to  Water-lick  Station,  two  miles  from 
Strasburg.  It  had  rained  incessantly  for  forty- 
eight  hours.  The  Shenandoah  was  rapidly  filling 
up  its  banks,  and  no  longer  fordable.  The  only 
bridge  across  the  Xorth  Fork  was  a  railroad 
bridge;  and  this,  together  with  the  temporary 


ESCAPE    OF    JACKSON.  81 

structure  across  the  South  Fork,  was  yielding 
to  the  pressure  of  the  angry  waters. 

On  the  4th  of  June,  the  brigade,  then  the  ad 
vance  of  the  division,  was  ordered  back  to  Front 
Royal.  To  cross  the  several  pieces  of  artillery 
and  the  wagons  that  had  accompanied  the  troops, 
over  the  railroad  bridge,  was  not  thought  possi 
ble,  and  orders  were  given  to  abandon  them. 
But  a  little  practical  good  sense,  acting  outside 
of  the  usual  routine  of  military  operations,  easily 
overcame  the  apparently  insurmountable  diffi 
culty,  saving  to  the  government  a  battery  of  four 
guns  and  ten  or  twelve  wagons,  and  securing  the 
troops,  already  greatly  chagrined  at  the  escape 
of  Jackson,  from  further  mortification.  A  detail 
of  men  from  the  Eleventh  Regiment,  with  the 
colonel  to  direct  operations,  denuded  an  adjacent 
mill  and  several  extensive  out-houses  of  every 
available  piece  of  timber.  In  a  few  hours  the  rail 
road  bridge  had  a  substantial  flooring,  over  which 
artillery  and  wagons  crossed  in  perfect  safety. 

Stonewall  Jackson  succeeded  in  evading  the 
combined  forces  of  Fremont  and  McDowell  to  in 
tercept  his  retreat ;  and  after  severe  engagements 
at  Cross  Keys  and  Port  Republic,  united  his 
forces  with  those  of  General  Lee  before  Rich 
mond  in  time  to  bear  a  conspicuous  part  in  the 
defeat  of  McClellan  on  the  Peninsula. 

General  Fremont  concentrated  his  army  in 
the  Shenandoah  Valley,  and  McDowell's  Corps 
returned  to  Manassas. 


III. 

CHAPTER  I. 

POPE'S    VIRGINIA    CAMPAIGN. 

FOR  the  third  time  we  pitched  our  tents  on  the 
wide-spreading  plain  of  Manassas.  But  not  too 
familiar  did  we  become  with  the  famous  locality 
for  the  service  there  required  of  the  Eleventh 
Regiment  two  months  later. 

The  last  week  of  June  was  full  of  exciting  ru 
mors.  At  one  time  we  were  to  take  shipping  for 
the  Peninsula,  whither  the  eyes  of  the  nation 
were  now  turned;  the  next  day's  rumor  returned 
McDowell  to  Fredericksburg  by  the  overland 
route.  Marching  orders  were  received  on  the 
4th  of  July  morning,  not  for  the  Peninsula,  nor 
for  Fredericksburg,  but  for  Warrenton.  By  an 
order  from  Washington,  read  to  all  the  troops, 
the  three  corps  of  Fremont,  Banks,  and  McDow 
ell  were  constituted  the  Army  of  Virginia,  under 
command  of  General  John  Pope  ;  and  the  march 
to  Warrenton  was  the  beginning  of  Pope's  cam 
paign  in  Virgini  i. 

Never  before  was  there  so  much  opposition  to 
marching  orders.  And  not  much  wonder,  when 
(82) 


POPE'S    CAMPAIGN    BEGUN.  83 

the  march  so  interfered  with  the  grand  4th  of  July 
celebration,  for  which  there  had  been  becoming 
preparation.  Camps  were  decorated  with  arches, 
and  festooned  with  evergreens,  in  honor  of  the 
day  Our  friends  of  the  Ninetieth  Pennsylvania 
sent  North  for  tire-works  to  enliven  the  evening. 
But  instead  of  the  proposed  jubilee,  came  a  swelt 
ering  march  of  ten  miles  over  dusty  roads,  and  a 
bivouac  at  night  near  the  little  village  of  Gaines 
ville. 

On  the  evening  of  the  second  day  the  troops 
encamped  in  sight  of  Warrenton.  It  had  seen 
none  of  the  ravages  of  war,  and  was  a  handsome 
Virginia  town  of  broad,  clean  streets,  containing 
many  elegant  private  residences,  hid  in  groves  of 
oak  and  maple,  or  surrounded  by  tasteful  lawns, 
ornamented  with  shrub  and  flower. 

General  Blenker's  troops  passed  through  the 
place  some  time  previous,  leaving  a  mortal  dread 
behind  them  of  everything  clad  in  Yankee  blue. 
The  general  did  not  wait  for  Pope's  order  to  sub 
sist  off  the  country,  but  supplied  his  men  with 
whatever  the  merchants  happened  to  have  on 
hand.  When  they  entered  the  drug  stores,  his 
directions  were  to  take  only  the  fullest  jars  on 
the  shelves,  without  respect  to  what  they  con 
tained.  The  general  was  always  noted  for  hav 
ing  a  well-stocked  hospital. 

What  with  our  shaded  encampment,  on  a  farm 
adjoining  the  town,  and  the  easy  duty  required 
of  the  men,  the  stay  at  Warrenton,  though  of 


84  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

nearly  three  weeks'  continuance,  was  without  the 
usual  monotony  of  camp  life.  We  had  very  little 
intercourse  with  the  citizens.  Xow  and  then  a 
gentleman  was  to  he  met  who  seemed  disposed 
to  exchange  courtesies;  but  the  bitterest  of  all 
rebels  were  the  women.  Our  lady  readers,  how 
ever,  must  be  informed  that  brass  buttons  and 
shoulder  straps  were  as  potent  in  reaching  the  fe 
male  heart  at  the  South  as  they  were  at  the  2s"orth, 
and  many  a  Southern  damsel,  with  strong  dis 
union  proclivities,  has  been  brought  to  a  better 
state  of  mind  by  the  polite  attentions  of  some 
gallant  Yankee  soldier. 

On  the  22d  of  July,  Ricketts's  Division  (Gen 
eral  J.  B.  Ricketts  having  succeeded  General 
Ord)  was  moved  from  Warrenton  to  Waterloo, 
eight  miles  distant,  on  the  Luray  pike,  where  the 
road  crosses  the  Upper  Rappahannock.  Waterloo 
was  the  site  of  an  extensive  woolen  mill,  manufac 
turing  large  quantities  of  cloth  for  the  Southern 
army.  The  establishment  was  destroyed  by  Gen 
eral  Banks  because  the  proprietor,  who  claimed 
to  be  an  English  subject,  insisted  upon  prose 
cuting  his  contraband  trade. 

Camp  near  Waterloo  is  remembered  for  the 
beauty  of  its  location,  and  the  abundant  supply 
of  pure  cold  water.  When  an  army  bivouacs  for 
a  night  only,  little  attention  is  paid  to  the  selec 
tion  of  grounds.  But  it  is  very  different  when 
the  stay  is  to  be  protracted  for  days  or  weeks. 
The  selection  once  made,  streets  are  laid  out  with 


CAMP    NEAR    WATERLOO.  85 

the  nicest  of  regularity,  011  either  side  of  which 
the  tents  of  the  men  are  pitched  in  double  rows, 
each  row  facing  a  street.  Trenches  are  dug  for 
purposes  of  drainage,  unsightly  objects  are  re 
moved,  and  a  neat  city,  with  perfect  uniformity 
in  its  buildings,  both  as  to  shape  and  color,  springs 
up  in  a  day. 

The  picture  would  not  be  complete  without  a 
night  scene.  Each  tent  is  then  illuminated  with 
the  nightly  allowance  of  two  inches  of  candle. 
Those  myriads  of  little  lights,  twinkling  and 
dancing  all  around,  often  play  fantastic  tricks 
with  the  imagination  of  the  beholder.  As  the 
shadows  of  evening  hide  all  outward  objects  from 
view,  how  easy  for  the  soldier  to  trace  in  those 
camp  lights  the  streets  of  his  own  native  town, 
and  the  very  street  in  which  he  lives,  and  his 
own  house — 

" with  its  light  in  the  window," 

sure  sign  that  the  loved  watcher  is  waiting  for 
him.  A  loud  blast  from  the  bugle  awakens  the 
volunteer  from  his  reverie.  It  is  the  signal  to 
put  out  lights,  and  a  moment  later  the  beautiful 
vision  has  faded  into  darkness. 

WEDNESDAY,  July  30.— Spent  most  of  the  day 
in  Warrenton,  looking  after  the  sick  of  the  regi 
ment,  left  there  in  hospital  when  we  marched  to 
Waterloo.  Shedron,  a  member  of  Co.  C,  died 

8 


86  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

last  night,  and  was  buried  this  morning.  -Poor 
fellow.  In  rny  possession  are  several  letters  ad 
dressed  to  him  from  home.  What  words  of  ten 
derness  and  affection  they  contained,  that  might 
have  cheered  his  heart,  came  all  too  late. 

General  Pope  arrived  in  town  this  afternoon, 
much  to  the  displeasure  of  all  seceshdom,  but 
greatly  to  the  joy  of  the  whole  army.  We  are 
hoping  that  he  will  make  good  the  promise  of  a 
vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war  throughout  this 
Virginia  valley. 

While  in  Warrenton,  and  as  a  member  of  the 
board  of  appraisers  appointed  by  General  Hart- 
suff,  whose  business  it  is  to  assess  damages  done 
to  the'grounds  upon  which  the  brigade  encamps, 
called  on  the  proprietor  of  our  late  encamp 
ment  adjoining  the  town.  He  is  a  gentleman 
of  fine  social  qualities,  who  made  us  welcome 
to  his  house ;  but,  like  all  the  rest  of  the  promi 
nent  men  of  this  State,  violently  opposed  to  the 
Federal  Government.  The  gentleman  complained 
that  any  damages  we  might  assess  could  not  be 
recovered  unless  he  took  the  oath  of  allegiance, 
in  which  case  he  would  be  an  alien  from  the  State 
of  Virginia,  and  in  the  event  of  the  success  of 
the  South,  must  lose  all. 

In.  the  case  of  Mr.  Horner,  the  damages  as 
sessed  were  larger  than  usual.  We  were  three 
weeks  on  his  estate,  and  one  of  the  tenant  houses, 
in  which  a  colored  man  lay  sick  with  small-pox, 


ARMY    OF    VIRGINIA.  87 

and  where  he  died,  before  the  body  was  removed 
was  ordered  to  be  burned,  to  prevent  the  spread 
of  the  infection. 

FRIDAY,  August  1. — General  John  Pope,  ac 
companied  by  Generals  McDowell  and  Ricketts, 
and  their  respective  staff  officers,  reviewed  Hart- 
sufPs  Brigade  at  seven  o'clock  this  morning.  It 
was  a  very  quiet  review.  The  men  do  not  like 
the  tone  of  the  recent  orders  issued  by  General 
Pope,  nor  the  covert  reflections  on  the  courage 
of  the  eastern  army,  which  they  think  those  or 
ders  contain.  As  he  sat  on  horseback,  the  gen 
eral  seemed  of  manners  so  unassuming  as  to 
make  one  wonder  whether  he  or  his  adjutant, 
who  appeared  far  more  important  than  his  supe 
rior,  had  written  the  objectionable  orders. 

The  Peninsular  campaign  was  at  an  end. 
General  McClellan  had  effected  a  change  of 
base  from  the  York  River  to  the  James,  concen 
trating  the  remnant  of  his  army  at  Harrison's 
Landing.  It  now  became  apparent  what  was 
expected  of  the  Army  of  Virginia.  Washington 
was  to  be  protected,  the  Valley  of  the  Shenan- 
doah  guarded,  and  by  operating  on  the  enemy's 
lines  of  communication  towrard  Gordonsville,  it 
was  intended  to  draw  oft*  a  large  part  of  Lee's 
forces  from  Richmond,  thus  enabling  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  to  escape  from  Harrison's  Land 
ing. 


88  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

On  the  morning  of  August  4th,  Ricketts's  Di 
vision  broke  camp  at  Waterloo,  and  marched 
for  Culpeper,  the  first  step  toward  Gordonsville. 
The  country  through  which  we  passed  was  of 
rare  natural  beauty.  Many  stately  mansions  were 
here  and  there  to  be  seen,  but  a  Northerner  failed 
to  discover  the  taste  so  apparent  at  home  in  the 
surrounding  grounds  and  out-buildings.  The 
straggling  and  inferior  negro  quarters,  always 
near  the  main  residence,  are  an  insuperable  bar 
rier  to  neatness  in  external  arrangement,  or  taste 
in  appearance. 

The  old  South  Fork  Church,  near  Robertson 
River,  where  we  bivouacked  after  the  first  day's 
march,  was  an  object  of  curiosity.  Erected  in 
the  days  of  the  colonies,  the  internal  structure, 
of  the  style  of  a  century  ago,  remains  unchanged, 
even  to  the  high-back  pews  and  lofty  pulpit. 
Here  was  to  be  seen  the  Yankee  propensity  for 
recording  autographs  on  prominent  places,  and 
from  the  walls  of  the  old  church  one  might  al 
most  have  made  a  muster-roll  of  the  entire 
army. 

The  march  was  resumed  at  four  o'clock  of  the 
following  morning,  and  toward  sundown  of  Au 
gust  6th  we  encamped  near  Culpeper.  Two  clays' 
marching,  with  the  thermometer  indicating  a 
hundred  degrees,  was  hard  work,  and  the  troops 
enjoyed  the  succeeding  day  of  rest  and  quiet. 

Already  the  ubiquitous  Stonewall  Jackson  had 


BATTLE    OF    CEDAR    MOUNTAIN.  89 

arrived  at  Gordonsville,  and  scouts  from  the  front 
reported  that  the  enemy  was  crossing  the  Rapidan 
River  at  several  different  points.  Late  on  Fri 
day  afternoon  Ricketts's  Division  was  quickly 
formed,  and  moved  through  Culpeper  to  a  point 
two  miles  beyond,  where  the  road  from  Madison 
Court  House  intersects  the  road  from  Culpeper 
to  Cedar  Mountain.  General  Banks  was  three 
miles  distant  to  the  right,  near  Cedar  Mountain. 
If  the  enemy  was  moving  on  Culpeper  from 
Orange  Court  House,  he  would  first  strike 
Banks's  line,  but  if  he  came  from  Madison, 
Ricketts's  Division  lay  across  his  track. 

The  night  passed  without  alarm  ;  but  with  the 
morning  of  August  9th  came  authenticated  re 
ports  that  Jackson  was  showing  himself  in  front  of 
Cedar  Mountain.  Some  hours  later  there  was 
heard  an  occasional  artillery  discharge,  and,  as 
the  day  wore  away,  the  firing  increased  in  near 
ness  and  rapidity.  From  a  knoll,  near  where  the 
troops  had  rested  on  their  arms  from  early  morn 
ing,  batteries  could  be  seen  getting  into  position 
and  opening  fire. 

The  greatest  impatience  was  manifested  by  the 
men  of  Ricketts's  Division,  and  when  the  for 
ward  command  was  given,  about  five  o'clock  in 
the  evening,  no  time  was  lost  in  getting  into  line. 
We  moved  directly  toward  Cedar  Mountain,  and 
soon  began  to  see  evidences  of  the  battle  that 
had  been  fought  so  near  us.  Those  of  the 


'JO  STOHY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

wounded  able  to  walk  were  moving  slowly  to  the 
rear.  Others,  again,  were  supported  by  the  arm 
of  a  companion,  and  at  last  they  came  in  long 
lines  of  ambulances.  As  the  Eleventh  drew 
nearer  to  the  battle-field,  the  men  halted  for  a 
moment  to  be  relieved  of  knapsacks,  and  then 
pushed  on  with  a  quickened  step. 

It  was  quite  dark  when  Ricketts's  Division 
reached  the  position  held  by  Banks's  right  dur 
ing  the  day.  A  renewal  of  the  engagement  was 
hardly  expected  before  morning.  But  as  Banks 
withdrew  to  give  place  to  McDowell,  concealed 
under  cover  of  the  night,  the  enemy  had  followed 
after;  and  while  Ricketts  was  getting  into  posi 
tion,  opened  upon  us  a  furious  cannonade.  The 
suddenness  of  the  attack,  and  the  surrounding 
darkness  that  hid  the  enemy  from  view,  save  as 
the  flash  of  the  guns  revealed  his  presence,  was 
to  many  an  experience  strange  and  startling. 

Moving  forward  through  the  heavy  fire,  Hart- 
suff's  Brigade  was  placed  under  shelter  of  a 
stretch  of  rolling  ground.  Batteries  were  now 
got  into  position,  and  the  answers  returned  from 
the  Federal  lines  were  as  savage  as  the  messages 
received.  In  the  comparative  safety  the  rising 
ground  afforded,  wTe  could  distinctly  trace,  by  the 
burning  fuse,  the  shells  from  our  own  and  the  rebel 
batteries,  as  they  went  hissing  overhead  through 
the  heavy  night  air.  The  firing  was  kept  up  un 
til  after  midnight,  the  enemy  expending  most  of 


BATTLE    OF    CEDAR    MOUNTAIN.  91 

his  shell  on  a  dense  woods  some  distance  to  our 
right, 

The  losses  in  the  brigade  were  confined  to  the 
Twelfth  Massachusetts  and  Eleventh  Pennsylva 
nia.  The  former  had  one  commissioned  officer 
killed,  and  ten  men  wounded.  The  Eleventh 
reported  three  wounded. 

A  little  before  daylight  of  next  day,  the  regi 
ment  moved  from  the  open  ground  where  it  lay 
in  line  of  battle  all  night,  to  the  rear  of  the  woods 
so  lately  shelled  by  the  enemy.  We  were  in  the 
front  line,  in  momentary  expectation  of  the  re 
newal  of  yesterday's  conflict. 

Conscious  that  the  chaplain,  non-combatant 
and  unarmed,  ought  to  escape  harm,  perhaps  it 
was  easy  for  the  men  to  believe  that  he  would 
escape.  On  that  morning  one  and  another  of 
officers  and  men,  who  well  knew  the  rapacious 
character  of  the  foe,  and  his  intense  hatred  of 
everything  belonging  to  Pope's  army,  came  to 
commit  to  the  chaplain  whatever  of  value  was 
about  their  person. 

"  This  is  for  my  wife,  if  I  am  killed  or  taken 
prisoner,"  said  one. 

"  This  is  for  my  mother,"  said  another. 

Placing  a  valuable  ring  on  our  finger  and  a 
folded  paper  in  our  hand,  a  young  man  said:  "If 
I  do  not  come  out  of  this  day's  fight,  please  send 
the  ring  as  therein  directed." 

But  the  enemy  did  not  attack ;  and  the  day 


92  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

passed  in  unlooked-for  quiet.  Under  a  flag  of 
truce,  the  llth  of  August  was  spent  in  caring  for 
the  wounded  left  on  the  field,  and  in  burying  the 
dead.  On  the  12th,  our  scouts  reported  that  Jack 
son  was  falling  back  across  the  Rapidan  River. 

The  Union  loss  in  killed,  wounded,  and  miss 
ing  was  fifteen  hundred.  If  General  Banks 
wanted  to  test  the  fighting  qualities  of  his  corps, 
he  must  have  been  greatly  elated  at  the  result  of 
the  battle  of  Cedar  Mountain.  But  it  was  a  use 
less  and  wicked  sacrifice  of  life,  to  contend  for 
half  a  day  with  double  his  number,  when  thou 
sands  of  troops,  impatient  to  assist,  were  within 
an  hour's  march. 

Three  days  after  the  rebel  army  retired  across 
the  Rapidan,  Pope's  entire  force  was  posted 
along  its  north  bank.  From  Cedar  Mountain  we 
followed  in  the  track  of  the  retreating  enemy. 
The  road  was  strewed  with  tattered  garments, 
abandoned  equipments,  and-  here  and  there  a 
broken-down  wagon,  the  debris  of  battle.  Graves 
were  everywhere,  and  of  a  size  to  indicate  that 
large  numbers  of  the  dead  had  been  buried  to 
gether. 

Leaving  the  advancing  column  for  a  time,  we 
rode  over  the  battle-field,  and  to  the  top  of 
Cedar  Mountain.  Here  was  the  residence  of 
Mr.  Slaughter,  the  owner  of  the  estate,  and  from 
whom  the  hill  is  sometimes  called  Slaughter 
Mountain — a  name  by  which  it  should  evermore 


ADVANCE    TO    THE    RAPIDAN.  93 

be  known.  The  proprietor  is  an  Episcopal  clergy 
man,  and  his  house  among  the  most  homelike  we 
had  seen  in  Virginia.  But  everything  was  in 
ruins;  and  over  the  yard  were  strewed  fragments 
of  elegant  furniture,  and  valuable  books  and 
papers,  the  collection  probably  of  two  or  three 
generations.  Several  books  were  brought  away 
from  the  deserted  mansion,  that  we  retain  in  our 
keeping  to  be  restored  to  their  rightful  owner. 


CHAPTER  II. 

FROM    THE    RAPIDAN    TO    THE    RAPPAHANNOCK. 

AT  that  opportune  moment,  and  by  one  of 
those  little  events  which  men  call  accidents,  for 
want  of  faith  in  an  overruling  Providence,  the 
plans  and  intentions  of  the  enemy  became  fully 
known.  The  adjutant-general  of  Stuart's  cavalry 
was  captured  by  our  scouts,  having  on  his  person 
a  letter  from  General  Lee,  dated  at  Gordonsville. 
It  was  therein  revealed  that  the  whole  Confed 
erate  force  was  coming  against  Pope;  that  the 
Army  of  Virginia  was  to  be  overwhelmed  before 
reinforcements  could  reach  it  from  the  James 
River. 

The  authorities  at  Washington  had  declared 


94  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

that  if  the  two  armies  of  Pope  and  McClellan  could 
only  be  united,  the  country  was  saved  beyond  a 
doubt.  To  secure  a  union  so  desirable,  Pope's  first 
move  was  to  abandon  the  line  of  the  Rapidan  for 
the  more  defensible  one  of  the  Rappahanuock. 

August  19th,  as  we  lay  near  Mitchell's  Station, 
orders  came  to  prepare  to  march.  The  wagon 
trains  moved  toward  Culpeper  soon  after  the 
receipt  of  the  order;  but  it  was  eleven  o'clock  at 
night  before  the  troops  began  filing  off  on  the 
same  road  taken  by  the  trains.  Xothing  in  sol 
dier  life  was  so  much  to  be  dreaded  as  a  night 
march.  The  sullenness  of  such  vast  bodies  of 
men  in  motion — itself  oppressive — is  strangely 
increased  by  the  absence  of  all  genial  sunshine. 

The  frequent  halts,  to  allow  the  lumbering 
wagon  trains  to  clear  the  road,  detained  the  in 
fantry  until  long  after  daylight  in  passing  through 
Culpeper.  Rank  and  file  well  understood  that 
the  rebels  were  in  close  pursuit,  and  that  every 
thing  depended  upon  the  crossing  of  the  Rappa- 
hannock.  The  heat  was  intense,  and  the  dust 
almost  suffocating.  At  any  season  of  the  year  that 
part  of  Virginia  is  only  poorly  supplied  with  water; 
but  in  the  parching  August  month  the  springs  are 
nearly  dried  up,  and  pure,  cold  water  a  rare  lux 
ury.  Yet  through  heat  and  dust,  and  almost 
famishing  with  thirst,  the  army  pushed  heroically 
forward.  Many  there  were,  indeed,  whose  phys 
ical  endurance  was  not  equal  to  the  trial;  and 


GREETINGS  IN  CULPEPER.          95 

throwing  themselves  down  on  the  roadside,  the 
very  picture  of  despair,  we  were  compelled  to 
abandon  them  to  their  uncertain  fate. 

As  we  hurried  through  the  town,  a  little  dark- 
eyed  girl,  standing  near  the  street,  and  swinging 
aloft  a  jaunty  bonnet,  inflated  her  lungs  with 
the  morning  air  to  cry  out  after  us: 

"Good-by,  Yankees.  I'm  glad  you're  gone! 
Good-by,  Yankees." 

But  it  was  not  thus  with  all  our  Culpeper 
friends.  Crossing  the  deep  bed  of  Mountain 
Run,  at  the  northern  extremity  of  the  village, 
with  ambulances  and  artillery,  and  officers  on 
horse,  was  an  old  negro  man,  driving  a  yoke  of 
oxen  fastened  to  a  rickety  wagon,  on  which  were 
piled  women  and  children,  bedding  and  boxes, 
in  wonderful  confusion. 

"Halloa,  uncle,  where  are  you  going  with  that 
load  of  darkies?" 

"Gwine  wTid  you  all,"  was  the  satisfactory  re- 

piy- 

Whether  it  was  a  like  preference  for  the  Yan 
kees,  such  as  that  possessed  by  their  master,  or 
the  goad  of  the  earnest  driver  that  urged  them 
forward,  the  oxen  kept  up  with  the  quick  pace  of 
the  troops,  and  crossed  the  Rappahannock  at  the 
fording  below,  while  the  footmen  marched  over 
the  railroad  bridge  at  Rappahannock  Station,  a 
short  distance  above. 

It  was  nine  o'clock  at  night,  and  no  couch  of 


96  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

down  invited  to  a  sounder  repose  than  did  the 
grassy  hillock  of  our  bivouac,  on  the  north  side 
of  the  river,  after  that  wearying  march  of  twenty- 
five  miles. 

"Wednesday  morning,  huge  columns  of  dust, 
stretching  away  in  the  distance,  indicated  the 
approach  of  the  enemy.  An  hour  later,  his 
cavalry  emerged  from  the  woods,  three-quarters 
of  a  mile  from  the  river,  ready  to  carry  the 
railroad  bridge  by  a  gallant  charge.  But  a 
strong  line  of  our  own  horsemen,  sent  across  to 
support  the  infantry  pickets,  confronted  him,  and 
gave  a  different  turn  to  his  intentions. 

Toward  noon,  Matthews's  Pennsylvania  Bat 
tery,  supported  by  the  Eleventh  Regiment,  was 
ordered  to  occupy  a  commanding  elevation  on 
the  south  side  of  the  Rappahannock.  Three 
hundred  yards  further  in  advance  was  another 
slight  elevation,  and,  later  in  the  day,  a  section 
of  the  battery  occupied  this  new  position,  the 
Eleventh  moving  forward  with  it.  These  move 
ments  gave  us  possession  of  the  best  defenses  on 
the  enemy's  side  of  the  river,  completely  cover 
ing  the  bridge  and  the  fording,  though  bringing 
us  quite  near  to  the  position  taken  by  the  Con 
federates. 

There  have  been  few  more  daring  and  determ 
ined  undertakings  than  that  now  made  by  the 
Army  of  Virginia,  With  a  greatly  inferior  force, 
it  had  stretched  itself  along  the  Rappahannock 


FIGHT    AT    RAPPAHANNOCK    STATION.  97 

in  face  of  an  opposing  host,  bold  in  the  con 
sciousness  of  superior  numbers  and  elated  at  the 
total  failure  of  the  Peninsular  campaign.  It  was 
not  intended  that  Pope's  army,  unaided,  should 
take  the  field  against  Lee.  The  present  move 
ments  were  all  designed  to  gain  time,  that  the 
hundred  thousand  veterans  from  Harrison's  Land 
ing  might  join  their  strength  to  the  fifty  thousand 
on  the  Rappahannock.  To  accomplish  this  object 
we  were  keeping  close  connections  with  Freder- 
icksburg  and  Aquia  Creek,  the  route  by  which 
many  of  those  troops  were  to  reach  us.  To  break 
that  line  of  defense,  and  intercept  expected  re 
inforcements,  was,  for  the  time  being,  the  princi 
pal  object  of  General  Lee. 

The  Eleventh  passed  the  night  on  the  south 
side  of  the  river  without  molestation,  though 
every  man  slept  with  his  hand  on  his  musket, 
and  was  aroused  by  the  breaking  of  a  twig,  or 
the  chirp  of  a  cricket.  Thursday  morning  the 
rebels  opened  a  furious  fire  from  several  batteries 
wheeled  into  position  during  the  night.  But  the 
defenses  thrown  up  by  our  men  were  ample  pro 
tection  from  shot  and  shell ;  and  though  the  at 
tack  lasted  for  more  than  an  hour,  the  casualties 
in  the  regiment  were  only  one  killed  and  two  or 
three  wounded. 

Simultaneously  with  the  attack  at  Rappahan 
nock  Station,  a  determined  effort  was  made  to 
break  the  Union  lines  at  Kelly's  Ford,  six  miles 

9 


98  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

below,  but  witb  no  better  success.  All  day  of 
Friday  comparative  quiet  prevailed  in  our  front. 
Several  attempts  were  made  by  the  enemy  so  to 
place  his  artillery  as  to  enfilade  our  position;  but 
Thompson's  Battery  and  the  rest  of  Hartsuff's 
Brigade  moved  across  the  river,  and  every  such 
effort  was  anticipated  and  defeated.  The  princi 
pal  engagement  was  far  to  the  right  near  Sulphur 
Springs.  Through  the  latter  part  of  the  fight  a 
heavy  rain-storm  prevailed,  and  the  booming  of 
cannon  below  was  answered  by  the  deep  pealing 
thunder  above. 

Saturday  morning  dawned  full  of  intense  ex 
citement.  The  heavy  rain  of  the  night  before 
began  to  be  seen  in  the  rapid  rising  of  the  river. 
Shortly  after  midnight,  a  temporary  bridge,  built 
to  facilitate  the  crossing  of  reinforcements,  or  the 
retreat  of  Hartsuff  if  need  be,  was  washed  away 
by  the  flood;  and  lodging  against  the  railroad 
bridge,  threatened  to  carry  it  down  also.  Every 
moment  the  river  was  swelling  higher  and  higher, 
and  every  moment  increasing  the  danger  to  the 
bridge. 

The  other  three  regiments  composing  the 
brigade  were  ordered  across  to  the  north  side  of 
the  Rappahannock,  carrying  all  the  batteries 
with  them  but  the  two  guns  that  remained  with 
the  Eleventh  on  the  advance  knoll.  Some  mo 
ments  later,  orders  came  for  the  Eleventh  also  to 
retire,  excepting  Cos.  I  and  K.  These  two  com- 


FIGHT    AT    RAPPAHANNOCK    STATION.  99 

panies,  with  the  guns  of  Thompson's  Battery, 
took-  the  first  position  of  Wednesday.  At  the 
same  time  Co.  B  recrossed  to  the  south  side,  and 
was  placed  to  guard  the  approach  to  the  bridge. 

Now  came  on  the  rebels,  cavalry,  artillery,  and 
infantry,  crowding  toward  the  river,  and  jostling 
each  other  for  the  position  so  lately  evacuated 
by  the  Eleventh.  But  too  surely  did  death  meet 
the  few,  braver  than  their  companions,  that  h'rst 
made  the  ascent  of  the  vacated  hill  for  others  to 
try  it,  until  the  little  squad  of  two  companies, 
whose  guns  were  never  silent,  should  be  routed 
from  their  stronghold.  Against  our  last  position 
the  whole  rebel  lire  was  concentrated.  The  men 
increased  the  hight  of  the  breastworks  by  piling 
up  their  knapsacks,  and  thus,  in  close  quarters 
with  the  enemy,  awaited  the  signal  to  retire.  At 
last  it  came,  and  under  cover  of  our  guns  on  the 
north  bank,  the  companies  crossed  the  river  with 
out  the  loss  of  a  man.  The  batteries  were  then 
turned  against  the  bridge,  and  in  ten  minutes 
not  a  timber  remained  standing. 

The  Rappahannock  was  at  flood  hight;  the 
fordings  were  all  sunk,  and  withdrawing  from 
the  river  and  marching  toward  Warrenton,  the 
Eleventh  bivouacked  Saturday  night  in  sight  of 
the  town. 


100  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 


CHAPTER  III. 

POPE    RETREATING    NORTHWARD. 

FOR  two  days  the  enemy  was  reported  in  large 
force,  moving  up  toward  the  right  of  the  lines. 
Sunday  morning  Ricketts's  Division  was  sent  in 
the  direction  of  Sulphur  Springs,  where  it  was 
supposed  Lee  might  attempt  a  crossing.  Monday 
we  were  pushed  still  further  to  the  right;  and  on 
Tuesday  afternoon,  the  division  was  thrown  across 
the  Warrenton  pike,  near  Waterloo  Bridge. 

In  the  midst  of  this  last  shifting  of  position, 
fifty  men,  the  first  installment  of  Co.  G,  com 
manded  by  Lieutenant  A.  G.  Happer,  joined  the 
regiment.  They  came  to  Warrenton  by  railroad, 
loaded  down  with  heavy  overcoats,  blankets,  and 
extra  clothing,  that  some  dishonest  quartermaster 
had  imposed  upon  them.  But  though  only  raw 
recruits,  unskilled  in  the  ways  of  war,  and  with 
out  training  either  in  the  manual  of  arms  or  in 
marching,  they  soon  learned  to  adapt  themselves 
to  the  exciting  surroundings.  Knapsacks  were 
emptied  of  their  contents  along  the  roadside;  and 
thus  relieved  of  the  one  striking  peculiarity  — 
a  John  Bunyan  load  on  their  shoulders — the  re 
cruits  of  Co.  G  were  lost  in  the  rapidly  moving 
column. 


THE  RAPPAHANNOCK  ABANDONED.      101 

Scouts  continued  to  say  that  the  Confederates 
were  marching  toward  our  right,  and  by  Wed 
nesday  evening  it  was  known  that  Jackson  had 
passed  through  Thoroughfare  Gap,  and  was  con 
centrating  his  corps  at  Manassas  Junction. 

So  confident  was  General  Pope  that  troops 
from  the  Peninsular  army  would  be  at  the  points 
assigned  to  them,  and  at  the  time  designated, 
that  Jackson's  movement  in  the  direction  of 
Salem  and  White  Plains  had  given  no  uneasi 
ness,  as  his  passage  through  Thoroughfare  Gap 
would  not  have  been  possible.  But  on  the  night 
of  the  26th  of  August,  telegraphic  communica 
tions  with  Washington  were  interrupted,  and 
Pope  knew  that  reinforcements,  from  the  quar 
ter  expected,  had  failed  him.  The  Federal  com 
mander  now  determined  to  abandon  the  line  of 
the  Eappahannock,  and  throw  his  whole  force 
upon  the  enemy  that  had  passed  through  the 
Gap,  hoping  to  destroy  Jackson  before  the  rest 
of  Lee's  army  could  come  to  his  support. 

Wednesday  night  McDowell's  Corps  bivouacked 
near  Gainesville.  Thursday  morning  had  a  pronir 
ising  look  for  the  capture  of  Jackson.  He  could 
not  retrace  his  steps  toward  Thoroughfare,  be 
cause  the  sudden  and  unexpected  movement  of 
Pope  placed  Sigel  and  McDowell  between  him 
and  retreat  in  that  direction.  Xo  other  course 
was  left  to  Jackson  but  to  retire  toward  Cen- 
terville:  and  as  that  carried  him  still  further 

9* 


102  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

from  Lee,  it  increased  the  probabilities  of  his 
capture. 

Everything  depended  upon  quick  and  energetic 
work.  Reinforcements  must  first  reach  the  rebel 
general  by  way  of  Thoroughfare,  and  General 
McDowell  ordered  Ricketts's  Division  to  march 
direct  for  that  point,  while  the  rest  of  the  corps 
moved  on  to  Manassas  Junction.  Harts ivff's 
Brigade,  under  command  of  Colonel  Stiles  of 
the  Ninth  Xew  York  (General  HartsurF  having 
been  left  sick  at  Warrenton),  was  in  the  advance 
of  the  division;  and  the  Eleventh  Pennsylvania, 
more  familiar  with  the  country  than  any  other 
regiment,  led  the  brigade. 

At  Haymarket,  couriers  reported  that  our  cav 
alry  held  the  Gap,  but  the  enemy  was  advancing 
in  strong  column  from  "White  Plains.  If  the  rebels 
could  be  kept  in  check  two  hours  at  Thorough 
fare,  McDowell  had  assured  General  Ricketts  that 
Jackson  and  his  whole  force  would  be  captured. 
Heavy  and  rapid  firing  was  heard  in  the  direction 
of  Manassas.  The  other  divisions  of  the  corps 
were  evidently  performing  their  part  of  the  great 
work  then  to  be  done,  and  every  man  in  Ricketts's 
Division  was  anxious  that  we  should  do  the  part 
assigned  to  us.  Within  a  mile  of  the  Gap  the 
cavalry  were  met  retiring  toward  Haymarket. 
They  had  been  driven  back,  and  the  enemy  held 
the  pass.  A  quarter  of  a  mile  further  brought 
our  own  skirmish  line  in  sight  of  that  of  the 
rebels. 


BATTLE    OF    THOROUGHFARE    GAP.  103 

It  was  now  the  middle  of  the  afternoon,  and 
until  the  sun  went  down  did  the  contest  continue 
for  possession  of  that  mountain  Gap.  The  en 
emy  could  not  bring  his  artillery  into  position, 
and  such  was  the  nature  of  the  ground,  that  for 
our  own  batteries  there  was  little  use.  It  was  a 
musketry  fight,  but  the  Bull  Run  Mountain,  in 
whose  face  was  the  tiring,  seemed  to  catch  each 
distinct  volley,  and  in  returning  it  again,  the 
echoes  were  so  loud  and  long  as  to  remind  one 
only  of  booming  cannon  and  bursting  shells. 

Gradually  the  Confederates  were  pressed  back 
to  the  entrance  of  the  pass,  where  they  were 
found  to  be  in  possession  of  Chapman's  Mill, 
within  the  Gap,  and  of  the  bights  on  either  side. 
Every  foot  of  those  hills  was  as  familiar  to  the 
men  of  the  Eleventh  as  a  residence  of  several 
weeks  could  make  them,  and  though  nobly  sup 
ported  by  the  rest  of  the  brigade,  the  brunt  of 
the  battle  was  met  by  the  Eleventh  Eegiment 
gallantly  leading  the  way.  Pushing  up  the  hill 
to  the  right  of  the  Gap,  against  a  severe  fire 
from  the  enemy  concealed  behind  the  mills,  our 
men  finally  succeeded  in  establishing  a  strong 
line  on  the  summit  of  the  ridge.  The  steep  and 
rugged  character  of  the  ground  over  which  they 
were  contending  rendered  a  further  advance  im 
possible.  But  if  the  Eleventh  could  not  advance, 
neither  could  it  be  driven  back,  and  the  colonel 
maintained  his  position  until  ordered  to  retire. 


104  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

For  more  than  four  hours  the  enemy  was  held 
in  check.  But  it  cost  the  regiment  eighteen  men 
killed  and  thirty-seven  wounded.  Among  the 
killed  were  Captain  Shanks,  of  Co.  B,  and  Lieu 
tenant  Saxton,  of  Co.  D.  Among  the  severely 
wounded  were  Captain  Keenan,  of  Co.  K,  and 
Lieutenant  Tapp,  of  Co.  B.  Our  killed  and  many 
of  the  wounded  were  left  on  the  field.  Those 
brought  off  were  made  as  comfortable  in  hospi 
tal  as  the  one  solitary  house  near  by  would  allow. 
When  the  division  retired,  the  wounded  were  all 
placed  in  ambulances  and  brought  off  with  the 
troops,  rather  than  leave  them  to  the  tender  mer 
cies  of  the  rebels. 

The  men  of  the  Eleventh  and  other  regiments 
of  the  brigade,  as  well  as  the  few  wounded  South 
erners  that  fell  into  our  hands,  had  occasion  to 
remember  the  kindness  and  unselfish  devotion  of 
Surgeon  Anawalt,  in  charge  of  the  regiment,  and 
of  Assistant  Surgeon  Phelps,  who,  two  weeks 
before,  had  reported  for  duty. 

The  division  fell  back  to  Gainesville,  and  halted 
until  morning.  Less  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
distant  was  the  entire  force  of  Lon^street,  neither 

O 

commander  knowing  of  the  nearness  of  the  other 
until  the  order  of  General  McDowell,  directing 
Bicketts  to  move  at  once  to  Manassas  Junction, 
revealed  it.  The  aid-de-camp  lost  his  way,  and 
did  not  reach  our  bivouac  until  the  day  had 
dawned.  But  a  veil-like  mist  was  between  the 


HOSPITAL    AT    MANASSAS.  105 

two  armies,  and,  marching  by  way  of  Bristow 
Station,  the  division  came  up  with  the  rest  of  the 
corps  at  Manassas. 

During  the  night  two  of  the  men  died  in  the 
ambulances.  On  a  little  knoll  near  Bristow  we 
placed  them  side  by  side  in  a  single  grave,  in  that 
sleep  which  neither  the  tramp  of  advancing  or 
receding  armies,  nor  the  din  of  battle  so  often 
heard  around  that  spot,  has  ever  disturbed. 

Scarcely  had  the  division  rested  half  an  hour 
at  Manassas  until  it  was  again  ordered  to  Gaines 
ville.  Pope's  plans  had  not  been  fully  carried 
out  by  all  the  corps,  and  a  break  in  the  line  was 
then  discovered  that  might,  as  indeed  it  did,  de 
feat  everything. 

It  was  now  noon  of  Friday,  August  29th.  We 
had  in  our  ambulances  thirty  or  forty  wounded 
men,  for  whom  little  had  been  done  since  the 
previous  evening.  It  was  impossible  for  these 
longer  to  follow  the  division.  .Dr.  Phelps  and  the 
chaplain  of  the  Eleventh  were  directed  to  place 
them  in  hospital  as  near  as  might  be  to  the  Junc 
tion.  Half  a  mile  distant  to  the  east,  was  a  small 
dwelling,  occupied  by  two  old  persons,  who 
strongly  objected  to  having  their  house  taken  for 
a  hospital.  But  it  was  the  only  building  near,  and 
we  were  compelled  to  disregard  their  protest. 
The  sight  of  suffering,  however,  touched  the  heart 
of  the  old  lady,  and,  woman  like,  she  did  will 
ingly  what  she  could  to  make  the  wounded  easy 
and  comfortable. 


106  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SECOND    BATTLE    OF    BULL    RUN. 

DURING  Friday  afternoon  Dr.  Phelps  was  joined, 
at  our  improvised  hospital,  by  two  other  surgeons 
of  the  brigade.  Leaving  the  doctors  in  charge  of 
the  wounded,  early  Saturday  morning  we  started 
in  search  of  Ricketts's  Division,  going  in  the  di 
rection  of  Gainesville. 

Four  miles  from  the  Junction,  a  squad  of  cav 
alry  reported  Gainesville  in  possession  of  the 
rebels,  and  that  their  picket  line  extended  but  a 
short  distance  up  the  road  we  were  riding.  Leav 
ing  a  path  so  beset  with  danger,  and  taking  the 
direction  indicated  by  the  cavalry,  who  pursued 
their  way  to  Manassas,  we  came  up  with  the 
troops  north  of  the  Warrenton  pike,  and  in  sight 
of  the  stone  house.  The  division,  diverted  from 
its  march  to  Gainesville  by  later  orders,  had 
passed  the  night  near  Bull  Run. 

Although  there  had  been  severe  fighting  most 
of  the  day  of  Friday  by  the  several  corps  of  the 
army,  nothing  decisive  was  gained.  The  rebel 
forces,  since  coming  through  Thoroughfare,  had 
nearly  completed  a  circle.  Sweeping  down  over 
Manassas  plains  and  along  the  hights  of  Center- 


PORTER   DISOBEYS    ORDERS.  107 

ville,  capturing  immense  supplies  of  stores,  and 
destroying  a  million  of  dollars'  worth  of  prop 
erty,  all  that  day  Jackson  boldly  manoeuvred  to 
rest  his  right  flank  on  Gainesville. 

At  an  early  hour  McDowell  and  Porter  were 
ordered  to  move  their  respective  corps  to  that 
point  of  the  field,  where  Jackson  might  have 
been  attacked  on  the  flank  and  in  the  rear  before 
reinforcements  reached  him.  The  troops  in  front 
listened  anxiously  for  the  signal  of  assault  on 
the  enemy's  right.  Repeated  artillery  discharges, 
coming  from  that  direction  in  the  afternoon, 
awakened  the  hope  that  Porter  and  McDowell 
were  then  both  at  work.  But  suddenly  all  was 
again  quiet. 

Some  time  later,  General  McDowell  was  an 
nounced  through  a  courier  as  moving  along  the 
Sudley  Springs  road,  to  join  the  main  army  in 
front.  Peremptory  orders  were  then  sent  to  Gen 
eral  Porter,  who  commanded  the  largest  corps  in 
the  army,  and  had  undergone  less  fatigue,  to 
move  on  to  Gainesville,  and  at  once  attack  the 
enemy.  When  a  sufficient  time  had  elapsed  for 
Porter  to  get  into  position,  a  furious  attack  was 
made  upon  the  rebel  left,  completely  breaking 
the  line,  and  throwing  it  back  on  the  center;  and 
if  a  like  spirited  attack  had  been  made  on  the  rebel 
right,  the  day  would  have  been  won  to  the  Fed 
eral  army.  But  the  order  of  General  Pope  was 
disobeyed.  Porter  did  not  march  to  Gainesville, 
nor  did  he  encounter  the  enemv. 


108  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

The  complexion  of  affairs  throughout  the  en 
tire  field  was  materially  changed  on  Saturday 
morning.  Longstreet  had  united  his  corps  with 
Jackson  by  way  of  Thoroughfare,  and  Lee's  entire 
force  was  concentrated  at  Gainesville.  The  high 
est  estimate  of  Pope's  army,  at  that  critical  mo 
ment,  was  forty  thousand  men.  He  had  given 
up  all  hope  of  any  assistance  from  the  army  ar 
rived  at  Washington  and  Alexandria  from  the 
Peninsula,  and  to  delay  the  further  advance  of 
the  enemy  toward  the  capital,  the  Federal  com 
mander  determined  to  renew  the  engagement. 

The  first  movement  was  on  the  right,  by  Heint- 
zelman  and  Reno,  to  whose  support  Ricketts's 
Division  was  at  once  sent.  Colonel  Stiles  had 
been  returned  to  his  regiment,  and  Iiartsuff"s 
Brigade  was  under  command  of  General  Towers. 

The  order  to  move  to  the  right  reached  the 
Eleventh  as  we  sat  around  the  mid-day  meal 
of  coffee  and  hard  bread,  spread  out  on  the 
ground,  with  a  gum  poncho  for  a  table  cloth. 
Never  will  be  forgotten  that  hurried  dinner  on 
the  Bull  Run  battle-field.  From  the  organiza 
tion  of  the  regiment,  the  headquarters'  mess  con 
sisted  of  the  three  field  officers  and  the  chaplain. 
At  that  meal  all  were  present,  and  with  us,  as  in 
vited  guests,  were  the  surgeon  and  the  adjutant. 

Soon  after  Heintzel man's  attack  on  the  right, 
the  enemy  made  a  furious  assault  along  our  whole 
line;  but  most  severely  was  he  felt  on  the  ex- 


RICKETTS'S    DIVISION    ON    THE    LEFT.  109 

treme  left.  The  left  of  the  Federal  line  was 
south  of  the  Warrenton  turnpike,  and  termin 
ated  with  Bald  Hill,  a  low  but  commanding  ridge 
rising  above  the  road,  and  sloping  down  into 
broad  open  fields  in  front,  that  were  bordered, 
half  a  mile  away,  by  a  thick  forest  of  timber. 
McDowell's  Corps  was  already  on  the  left  with 
its  lines  formed  on  Bald  Hill,  and  recalled  from 
the  right,  Ricketts's  Division  marched  rapidly 
across  the  battle-field  to  rejoin  it. 

A  score  of  batteries,  posted  on  the  top  of  the 
ridge,  commanded  every  foot  of  the  open  fields; 
and  though  at  each  separate  discharge  whole 
lines  of  advancing  rebels  were  swept  down  in 
death,  still  they  came  pouring  forth  from  the 
dark  woods  beyond  with  daring  impetuosity. 
Dreadful,  too,  was  the  carnage  in  the  Union 
ranks  on  Bald  Hill.  Entire  regiments  seemed  to 
melt  away  in  an  instant.  One  moment  a  strong 
line  was  seen  advancing  with  steady  step  to  the 
top  of  the  ridge;  the  next  moment  it  came  roll 
ing  back  in  disordered  and  straggling  masses. 
Other  lines  took  the  place  of  the  broken  columns 
only  to  meet  a  similar  fate.  The  left  was  a  mael 
strom,  that  swallowed  up  everything  coming 
within  its  fatal  reach. 

Conspicuous  on  that  part  of  the  ground  was 
Towers's  Brigade.  "  The  conduct  of  the  brigade, 
in  plain  view  of  all  the  forces  on  the  left,  was 
especially  distinguished;  and  drew  forth  heart}7 

10 


110  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

and  enthusiastic  cheers.  The  example  of  the 
men  was  of  great  service,  and  infused  new  spirit 
into  all  the  troops  that  witnessed  their  intrepid 
conduct."  * 

In  the  thickest  of  the  engagement  General 
Towers  was  seriously  wounded  and  taken  from 
the  field.  Colonel  Stiles  was  absent  on  detached 
duty;  Colonel  Fletcher  Webster,  of  the  Twelfth 
Massachusetts,  was  among  the  early  slain  on  the 
left,  and  the  command  of  the  brigade  devolved 
upon  Colonel  Coulter,  the  next  ranking  officer. 

"Do  the  best  you  can  to  hold  the  position, 
colonel,"  were  the  words  of  General  Towers,  as 
he  passed  to  the  rear. 

The  battle  had  gone  seriously  with  the  Eleventh. 
Colonel  Martin  was  killed  instantly.  Major  Frink 
was  seen  to  fall,  shot  through  the  head.  Lieu 
tenant  Dalby,  of  Co.  E,  and  Lieutenant  Hyndman, 
of  Co.  D,  were  killed  at  the  same  moment.  Cap 
tain  Cribbs,  of  Co.  I,  and  Lieutenant  McClintock, 
of  Co.  C,  lay  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  in  a  dying 
condition.  Lieutenant  Weaverling,  of  Co.  A, 
Lieutenant  Haines,  of  Co.  B,  Captain  Bierer 
and  Lieutenant  Shawl,  of  Co.  C,  and  Captain  E. 
H.  Rauch,  of  Co.  H,  were  among  the  severely 
wounded.  The  command  of  the  regiment  de 
volved  upon  Adjutant  Uncapher,  and  maintained 
its  place,  until  of  three  hundred  and  forty-six 


Pope's  official  Report. 


RETREAT    TO    CENTERVILLE.  Ill 

men,  twenty-two  were  killed,  and  one  hundred 
and  fifty-four  wounded  and  missing. 

But  no  valor  or  heroic  daring  could  withstand 
the  numbers  and  fury  of  the  rebels.  Reinforce 
ments  were  coming  up  slowly,  and  resistance 
was  almost  at  an  end,  when  a  wild  hurrah,  and 
a  murderous  volley  of  artillery  and  musketry  far 
to  the  left,  told  that  the  enemy  had  completely 
flanked  our  position,  and  the  day  was  lost. 

Singly  and  in  squads  of  a  dozen,  but  hardly  in 
companies,  the  Army  of  Virginia  retreated  across 
Bull  Run,  resting  at  night  on  the  hights  of  Cen- 
terville. 

The  miserable  town  presented  a  woeful  appear 
ance  on  that  next  Sabbath  morning.  Those  of 
the  wounded  that  could  endure  to  walk  had 
found  their  way  hither  from  the  battle-field,  and 
could  now  be  seen  by  scores  stretched  out  in  the 
yards,  and  along  the  side-walks,  as  well  as  crowded 
into  the  houses  and  out-sheds  of  the  wretched 
place.  There  were  wounds  about  the  head  that 
stained  the  face  and  matted  the  hair  with  blood. 
Others  were  carrying  hands  mangled  and  torn 
by  bursting  shells,  while  many  were  faint  and 
dying  from  loss  of  blood  and  want  of  nourish 
ment.  Many  hands,  though  the  willing  instru 
ments  of  hearts  full  of  sympathy,  and  actively 
engaged  throughout  all  of  that  day,  could  do 
scarcely  more  than  reach  the  most  needy  of  the 
needful  throw g. 


112  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

Fearful  of  those  formidable  Centerville  Lights, 
that  his  own  men  had  rendered  impregnable, 
General  Lee  did  not  venture  to  follow  our  retreat 
across  Bull  Run.  But  the  whole  country  to  the 
left  was  opened  before  him,  and  with  scarcely  an 
hour's  halt  in  his  movements,  the  first  of  Sep 
tember  showed  his  troops  on  the  Aldie  pike, 
marching  hard  upon  our  right  flank.  The  design 
of  the  enemy  was  too  transparent  to  be  disguised. 
It  was  a  bold  attempt  to  reach  Fairfax  Court 
House  in  our  rear.  Centerville  was  no  longer 
tenable  ground;  and  with  its  thousands  of 
wounded  and  dying,  was  given  up  to  the  enemy. 

If  the  persistent  foe,  elated  by  a  second  victory 
at  Bull  Run,  expected  to  make  short  work  of  the 
jaded  and  worn-out  Army  of  Virginia,  by  cutting 
off  its  only  avenue  of  retreat,  he  made  a  sorry 
mistake.  Within  three  miles  of  Fairfax  his  path 
was  crossed  by  a  triple  line  of  brave  and  valorous 
hearts,  that  neither  incessant  marching,  nor  skirm 
ishes,  nor  battles  with  thrice  their  number,  could 
overwhelm  or  defeat. 

The  battle  of  Chantilly,  where  the  gallant 
Kearney  gave  up  his  life,  was  a  final  check  to  all 
efforts  on  the  part  of  the  Confederate  general  to 
get  in  between  Pope  and  the  capital.  But  as 
the  rebels  continued  to  march  by  the  left  flank, 
and  were  disappearing  from  our  front,  Pope's 
entire  army  fell  back  within  the  fortifications  of 
Washington.  On  the  morning  of  September  2d, 


ARMY    WITHIN    THE    FORTIFICATIONS.  113 

moving  from  the  banks  of  Difficult  Creek  where 
it  had  been  placed  in  position  the  evening  before, 
holding  the  enemy  in  check  in  front,  while  Reno 
and  Kearney  attacked  on  the  flank,  Ricketts's 
Division  encamped  at  night  on  Hall's  Hill,  in 
sight  of  the  Potomac. 

Pope's  Virginia  campaign  was  now  at  an  end. 
Seldom  has  one  army  been  asked  to  undergo  what 
the  men  of  the  Army  of  Virginia  performed. 
CkFor  fifteen  days,  with  scarcely  half  a  day's  in 
termission,  it  was  either  making  forced  marches, 
many  times  through  the  night,  and  many  times 
without  food,  or  else  engaged  in  battle.  These 
fatigues  were  most  severe  toward  the  last,  when, 
on  account  of  the  movements  of  the  enemy,  we 
had  separated  from  our  supplies,  and  many  gen 
erals,  as  well  as  private  soldiers,  had  no  food,  or 
only  such  as  could  be  picked  up  in  the  orchards 
or  cornfields  along  the  road.  In  all  this  the 
patience  and  endurance  and  good  conduct  of  the 
men  were  admirable.  To  fight  and  retreat,  and 
retreat  and  fight,  in  the  face  of  a  superior  force, 
is  a  severe  test  of  soldiership."* 

But  General  McDowell  omitted  to  say,  that  all 
the  fatigues  of  that  campaign  were  endured  by 
the  men,  not  only  without  that  confidence  in  the 
leading  generals,  from  which  comes  the  enthu 
siasm  of  an  army,  but  with  a  positive  aversion 


McDowell's  Report. 
10* 


114  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

toward  them.  At  the  very  outset,  by  the  tone 
of  his  orders,  and  the  self-superior  style  of  his 
addresses,  General  Pope  made  an  unfavorable 
impression  upon  the  troops, — an  impression  that 
was  never  corrected. 

With  General  McDowell  the  case  was  still 
worse.  Besides  an  utter  want  of  faith  in  his 
competency  as  a  field  commander,  the  wildest 
stories  of  complicity  with  the  rebels  were  cir 
culated  and  believed  concerning  him.  During 
the  excessive  hot  days  of  the  campaign,  the  gen 
eral  wore  a  cool  and  becoming  bambo  hat,  of 
peculiar  Shape.  But  the  troops  declared  that  it 
was  especially  designed  as  a  distinguishing  mark 
to  the  enemy.  To  such  a  hight  did  the  feeling 
prevail,  that  when  the  rumor  was  circulated, 
on  the  last  day  of  the  Bull  Run  battle,  that  Mc 
Dowell  had  been  shot  by  Sigel  for  open  acts  of 
treason,  there  were  few  who  cared  to  call  the 
truth  of  the  rumor  in  question. 

New  light  has  been  thrown  upon  that  unfortu 
nate,  though  valorous  campaign,  chasing  away 
the  darkness  of  ignorant  and  unfounded  preju 
dice,  so  damaging  to  the  reputation  of  a  gallant 
though  unsuccessful  officer.  In  that  new  light 
the  country  can  also  see  how  the  second  battle 
of  Bull  Run  might  have  been  a  victory  instead 
of  a  depressing  defeat. 


rsr. 

CHAPTER  I. 

REBEL    INVASION    OF    MARYLAND. 

THE  broad  Potomac  rolled  on  toward  the  At 
lantic,  through  the  deep  bed  of  its  channel,  as 
placidly  as  though  no  defeated  army  rested  on 
its  banks,  and  all  unconscious  of  the  sanguinary 
contest  so  soon  to  be  decided  near  its  upper 
waters. 

The  unusual  quiet  of  the  few  nights  passed  at 
Hall's  Hill,  wherein  there  was  neither  booming 
of  cannon,  nor  tramping  of  men,  was  a  generous 
relief  to  soul  and  body.  To  sleep  under  the 
shelter  of  a  tent,  with  our  colored  cook  Strauthers, 
ever  faithful  and  true,  to  see  that  the  mess-chest 
was  well  supplied,  were  comforts  we  had  not  for 
gotten  how  to  appreciate.  But  we  sadly  missed 
our  genial  mess-mates,  Colonel  Martin  and  Major 
Frink. 

Colonel  Martin  fell  at  the  post  of  duty,  and  at 
the  moment  when,  with  bitter  curses  and  loud 
imprecations,  the  rebels  were  charging  upon  our 
lines  on  Bald  Hill.  It  was  a  critical  moment, 

(115) 


116  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

and  every  man  belonging  to  the  Eleventh  was 
needed  in  his  place.  "With  an  unselfishness  per 
fectly  characteristic,  the  dying  officer  said  to 
those  who  saw  him  fall,  and  had  gone  to  his  as 
sistance  : 

"Never  niiud  me,  boys;  never  mind  me.  Go 
back  to  the  regiment.  You  are  wanted  there." 

The  tide  of  battle  soon  swept  us  far  beyond 
the  spot  where  his  companions  left  him  to  die. 
But  the  body  was  afterward  buried  by  Dr. 
Woods,  of  the  Ira  Harris  Cavalry, — an  old  An 
napolis  friend, — and  the  place  of  interment  so 
carefully  marked,  that  some  weeks  later  the  re 
mains  were  recovered,  and  now  rest  in  Monu 
ment  Cemetery,  Philadelphia. 

Barely  have  we  met  a  person  of  such  high 
social  qualities,  or  one  who  combined  so  many 
elements  of  the  true  gentleman.  No  braver  or 
more  patriotic  soldier  fell  on  that  field  of  Bull 
Hun  than  Lieutenant-Colonel  Thomas  S.  Martin. 

Passing  through  the  various  hospitals  in  the 
City  of  Washington,  looking  after  the  wounded 
of  the  Eleventh,  in  the  register  of  Armory  Hos 
pital,  our  eye  fell  upon  this  entry:  "Bed  75 — 
Major  H.  A.  Frink,  Eleventh  Regiment  Pennsyl 
vania  Volunteers."  In  the  list  of  casualties,  we 
had  counted  the  major  among  the  killed;  and 
the  frightful  gash  in  the  head,  that  the  surgeon 
was  dressing  at  the  moment  we  entered,  told 
how  nearly  that  report  had  come  of  being 
correct, 


M'CLELLAN    IN    COMMAND.  117 

The  flag  of  truce  party,  sent  out  to  gather  up 
the  wounded,  overlooked  him;  and  after  days  of 
suffering  on  the  battle-field,  without  shelter  and 
without  food,  and  almost  totally  blind  from  the 
effects  of  the  wound,  Major  Frink  made  his  wTay 
first  to  Centerville,  where  the  rebel  authorities 
paroled  him,  and  finally  to  Washington. 

Among  the  losses  in  the  brigade,  outside  of 
our  own  regiment,  none  was  more  keenly  felt 
than  the  death  of  Colonel  Fletcher  Webster,  of 
the  Twelfth  Massachusetts.  Our  first  introduc 
tion  at  Falmouth,  in  the  preceding  month  of 
May,  had  grown  into  an  intimacy  still  remem 
bered  with  pleasure.  The  colonel  was  a  brave 
and  chivalrous  soldier;  partaking  largely  of  the 
warm  impulses  and  noble  nature  of  his  illustrious 
father. 

Four  days  of  rest  and  quiet,  short  as  was  the 
time,  told  wonderfully  upon  the  looks  and  spirits 
of  officers  and  men.  It  must  also  be  said  that  a 
new  enthusiasm  had  taken  hold  upon  the  troops. 
As  our  depleted  columns  moved  slowly  back 
from  Fairfax  Court  House,  to  an  officer  who  rode 
up  at  our  side,  we  said: 

"  This  is  sad  work,  captain.  I  am  afraid  the 
rebels  mean  to  drive  us  across  the  river  and  cap 
ture  Washington." 

O 

"^N"o,  sir,"  was  the  reply.  "General  McClellan 
is  in  command  of  the  army.  It  will  all  be  right 
now." 


118  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

But  not  even  four  days  of  rest  had  been  allowed 
to  the  Confederate  army.  A  new  thought  was 
stirring  the  active  brain  of  its  daring  commander. 
The  seat  of  war  was  to  be  brought  northward. 
Maryland  was  to  be  occupied,  and  such  an  up 
rising  of  the  people  to  welcome  him  as  their 
deliverer  was  anticipated  by  Lee,  as  to  defy  the 
power  of  the  Federal  Government  longer  to  hold 
the  State  in  the  Union,  or  dislodge  the  Southern 
army  from  its  firm  foothold.  The  rebel  general 
was  already  across  the  Potomac;  and  the  day  the 
Eleventh  left  Hall's  Hill,  Stuart's  cavalry  entered 
the  City  of  Frederick. 

It  was  midnight  of  September  6th,  as  we  filed 
along  .the  road  leading  to  Georgetown  bridge, 
across  the  Potomac,  and  through  the  streets  of 
Washington.  General  Hartsuff  was  again  at  the 
head  of  the  brigade,  and  General  Hooker  in  com 
mand  of  McDowell's  Corps.  Hooker  was  moving 
with  his  corps  toward  Frederick,  not  directly, 
but  over  a  route  that  covered  the  capital  and 
defended  Baltimore  from  a  fiank  attack  by  the 
enemy. 

Thursday  evening  we  pitched  our  tents  along 
side  the  Baltimore  and  Frederick  turnpike, 
twenty  miles  from  the  latter  place.  Whatever 
the  rebel  leaders  may  have  thought  of  Maryland, 
it  was  quite  evident  to  us  that  we  were  in  the 
land  of  our  friends. 

At  our  second   bivouac  across  the  Potomac, 


RECRUITS    FROM    HARRISBURG.  119 

Captain  John  B.  McGrew,  of  Co.  G,  and  fifty 
men  from  Harrisburg,  reported  to  the  regi 
ment.  The  first  detachment,  under  Lieutenant 
Happer,  had  nearly  disappeared  in  the  battles  of 
Thoroughfare  Gap  and  Bull  Run;  and  this  arrival 
of  the  captain  was  a  timely  addition  to  Co.  G.  Here 
also,  on  the  Frederick  pike,  we  were  joined  by 
Dr.  Phelps,  direct  from  Manassas.  Not  two 
hours  after  we  left  the  hospital,  on  the  morning 
of  August  30th,  a  force  of  rebel  cavalry  came  in 
upon  them,  taking  off  nurses,  drivers,  ambu 
lances,  and  horses.  Even  the  horses  of  the  sur 
geons  were  captured;  but  on  application  to  Colo 
nel  Rosser,  commanding  the  cavalry,  these  latter 
were  restored. 

The  doctor  soon  learned  of  the  defeat  of  the 
Union  forces,  and  that  all  the  intervening  country 
between  Manassas  and  Alexandria  was  in  pos 
session  of  the  rebels.  At  the  end  of  three  or 
four  days,  the  scanty  stock  of  supplies  with  which 
the  hospital  opened,  was  entirely  consumed,  and 
how  to  subsist  thirty  or  forty  wounded  men,  in  a 
country  where  there  was  nothing  to  buy,  and 
nothing  to  forage,  became  a  serious  question. 
Riding  out  toward  Centerville,  in  search  of  some 
one  to  whom  he  might  apply  for  assistance,  the 
doctor  fortunately  met  the  flag  of  truce  party. 
Rations  and  ambulances  were  at  once  provided, 
and  all  the  wounded  left  at  Manassas  were 
brought  to  Alexandria. 


120  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

It  was  a  Sabbath  morning,  clear  and  beau 
tiful,  when  the  Federal  army  marched  through 
Frederick — an  event  always  to  be  remembered. 
For  one  week  the  town  had  been  under  rebel 
rule,  a  time  sufficiently  long  for  even  the  most 
intense  Southern  sympathizer;  and  the  sight  of 
the  Union  ranks  filled  the  people  of  the  place 
with  extravagant  joy.  Amid  deafening  cheers 
and  flying  banners  and  waving  handkerchiefs  we 
pressed  our  way  through  the  crowded  streets 
toward  the  South  Mountain,  that  rose  boldly  in 
front  to  the  hight  of  a  thousand  feet. 

The  route  was  along  the  National  road.  From 
the  top  of  Fairview  Hill  could  be  seen  the  smoke 
of  the  enemy's  batteries,  and  we  knew  that  in 
posting  himself  in  Turner's  Gap  (the  main  pass 
of  the  mountain),  and  on  the  bights  on  either 
side,  by  which  he  commanded  every  way  of  ap 
proach,  General  Lee  had  the  advantage  of  posi 
tion,  and  would  hold  the  stronsr  mountain  de- 

O 

fense  to  the  last.  The  Corps  of  Hooker  and  Reno, 
forming  the  right  wing  of  the  army,  were  under 
command  of  General  Burnside.  To  attack  in 
front  would  have  been  the  extreme  of  folly.  The 
only  hope  was  to  get  on  the  enemy's  flank,  and 
while  Reno  was  manoeuvring  to  the  left  of  the 
National  road,  to  secure  such  a  result,  Hooker's 
Corps  moved  to  the  right.  A  short  distance  from 
the  Hagerstown  pike  we  struck  the  old  Braddock 
road,  which  crosses  the  mountain  at  a  point  not 


BATTLE  OF  SOUTH  MOUNTAIN.       121 

so  high  as  that  over  which  the  main  road  passes^ 
but  of  steep  and  difficult  ascent.  Two  miles 
from  the  pike,  we  began  our  upward  march. 
The  Eleventh  was  on  the  extreme  right  of  Rick- 
etts's  Division,  and  if  it  made  rapid  time  in  reach 
ing  the  crest  above,  it  was  because  we  had  learned 
at  Thoroughfare  Gap  how  to  march  and  fight  up 
the  side  of  a  mountain. 

General  Lee  was  too  shrewd  a  commander  to 
depend  entirely  upon  that  steep  and  rugged  hill 
side  to  defend  his  left  flank.  Hid  in  the  ravines 
washed  out  by  the  summer  torrents,  and  shel 
tered  behind  breastworks  leisurely  constructed, 
the  enemy  awaited  our  advance.  Half  way  up 
to  the  summit,  the  crest  of  the  mountain  sud 
denly  gleamed  with  a  sheet  of  flame.  If  some 
staggered  and  fell  back,  meeting  those  whistling 
bullets  from  above,  it  only  nerved  that  advancing 
column  with  new  determination. 

The  firing  was  severest  on  the  left  of  the  corps, 
held  by  the  Pennsylvania  Reserves;  and  when 
at  last  a  prolonged  cheer  told  that  the  left  of  the 
mountain  top  had  been  carried  by  Pennsylvania 
troops,  the  old  Eleventh,  fighting  on  the  right, 
sent  back  the  echo  of  victory  from  the  same  high 
level. 

Many  a  brave  heart  met  a  soldier's  fate,  climb 
ing  up  the  South  Mountain.  But  each  foot  of 
ground  wrested  from  the  enemy  was  securely 
held.  Xext  morning,  Hartsuff's  Brigade  moved 

11 


1*22  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

cautiously  along  the  Braddock  road,  over  the 
deserted  breastworks  and  rifle-pits  of  the  enemy, 
until  we  struck  the  Xational  pike  at  the  Mount 
ain  House.  Turner's  Gap  was  now  in  the  rear. 
The  attack  on  the  left — though  the  gallant  Reno 
lost  his  life  in  making  it — was  as  successful  as 
that  on  the  right ;  and  the  clouds  of  dust,  rising 
from  the  plains  below,  told  that  Lee  was  in  full 
retreat  toward  the  Potomac,  leaving  his  killed 
and  wounded  on  the  field. 

If  the  South  Mountain  battle  had  not  been 
followed  so  soon  by  that  of  Antietam,  whose 
greater  proportions  now  almost  overshadow  it,  it 
would  be  considered,  as  indeed  it  was,  a  decided 
victory  over  General  Lee.  Its  influence  on  the 
morale  of  our  troops  was  of  far  greater  advantage 
than  the  loss  of  men  and  material  of  war  sus 
tained  by  the  enemy.  It  was  a  success  when,  of 
everything  else,  success  was  needed  to  restore  the 
waning  confidence  of  the  rank  and  file.  It  was 
the  silver  lining  to  the  dark  cloud  of  reverses 
that  had  so  long  hung  over  the  Potomac  Army. 


A    VIRGINIA    CHAPLAIN.  123 


CHAPTER  II. 

M'CLELLAN  AND  LEE  ON  THE  UPPER  POTOMAC. 

EVERY  spot  along  the  road  in  which  a  man 
could  find  room  to  lie  down,  out  of  danger  of 
being  trampled  to  death  by  the  moving  columns, 
was  found  occupied  by  the  wounded.  The 
church  at  Boonsborough,  and  many  private  resi 
dences,  were  converted  into  rebel  hospitals, 
giving  to  the  town  the  appearance  of  Center- 
ville  after  the  battle  of  Bull  Run. 

A  Virginia  chaplain  remained  behind  to  take 
care  of  the  wounded  of  his  regiment.  Their 
loss  was  severe,  numbering  one  or  two  hundred 
in  killed  and  wounded.  He  was  not  disposed  at 
first  to  be  at  all  cordial,  and  our  proposed  good 
offices  were  politely  refused.  But  afterward  re 
lenting,  some  assistance  we  were  able  to  give 
was  accepted  with  as  much  courtesy  as  it  was 
before  declined. 

"Our  recent  successes  over  your  army  have 
made  us  too  confident.  "We  had  no  thought  of 
being  driven  from  South  Mountain ;  and  I  fear 
that  your  rapid  pursuit  of  General  Lee  will  pre 
vent  him  from  crossing  the  Potomac  without 
serious  loss." 


124  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

Turning  off  from  the  National  pike  at  Boons- 
borough  into  the  road  leading  to  Sharpsburg,  the 
army  halted  at  Kedysville  for  several  hours, 
waiting  on  cavalry  operations  in  the  front.  Our 
advance  came  up  with  the  enemy,  stretched 
across  the  road  over  which  we  were  marching, 
in  strong  force.  When  his  position  was  fully 
known,  it  was  too  late  to  attack,  and  the  Eleventh 
bivouacked  for  the  night  a  short  distance  west  of 
the  village. 

Tuesday  morning  revealed  that  the  enemy  had 
changed  his  position  during  the  night,  and  was 
now  posted  along  the  line  of  Antietam  Creek, 
his  right  near  Sharpsburg  and  his  left  resting  on 
Miller's  farm.  With  his  usual  sagacity,  the  rebel 
general  had  selected  a  most  advantageous  posi 
tion.  His  right  flank  was  protected  by  a  high 
ridge — a  continuance  of  Maryland  Hights,  run 
ning  northward, — and  his  left  flank  by  the  Poto 
mac  River,  half  a  mile  distant.  Whether  Mc- 
Clellan  might  determine  to  attack  the  rebel  cen 
ter,  or  on  either  flank,  he  was  compelled  to  cross 
the  Antietam,  and  move  over  ground  swept  by 
artillery  planted  on  every  available  spot. 

The  Federal  attack  was  to  be  similar  to  that 
made  at  South  Mountain.  Hooker's  Corps,  sup 
ported  by  those  of  Mansfield  and  Sumner,  was 
sent  to  the  right  to  fall  on  the  enemy's  left,  while 
Burnside  was  to  assault  his  right.  Hooker's 
Corps  consisted  of  the  three  divisions  of  Generals 


BATTLE    OF    ANTIETAM.  125 

Meacle,  Ricketts,  and  Donbleday.  Three  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  of  Tuesday,  leaving  our  bivouac 
near  Kedysville,  and  marching  in  rear  of  the 
first  division,  Ricketts  crossed  Antietam  Creek 
at  the  upper  bridge  and  the  fording  at  Fray's 
mill,  and  continued  moving  to  the  right  as  far 
up  as  Hoffman's  farm. 

The  day  was  nearly  spent  when  Hooker's 
Corps  reached  the  position  assigned  it.  There 
had  been  desultory  firing  during  the  afternoon 
in  the  direction  in  which  we  were  marching,  but 
for  a  time  everything  had  remained  in  a  state  of 
quiet.  Scarcely,  however,  did  we  come  to  a  halt 
in  a  field  of  corn,  before  the  enemy  from  a  copse 
woods  in  front,  opened  on  our  ranks  with  in 
fantry  and  artillery.  The  advance  brigades  came 
at  once  into  action,  and  until  ten  o'clock  the 
severe  skirmish  was  continued. 

Thus  began,  on  the  evening  of  September  16th, 
the  battle  of  Antietam.  Stonewall  Jackson  had 
formed  his  main  battle  line  on  Miller's  farm, 
and  the  force  so  early  encountered  was  a  body 
of  troops  thrown  out  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in 
advance.  If  General  McClellan  had  attacked  Lee 
on  Tuesday  morning,  he  would  have  had  thirty 
thousand  less  troops  opposed  to  him.  Jackson's 
whole  corps  was  absent,  and  only  by  a  forced 
march  from  Harper's  Ferry  did  it  reach  the  bat 
tle-field  late  on  Tuesday  morning.  In  the  even 
ing  the  troops  were  in  position  on  our  right, 
11* 


126  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

and  the  delay  in  the  battle  until  Wednesday 
morning  gave  to  Jackson  and  his  soldiers  a  pre 
cious  season  of  needed  repose. 

As  the  men  rested  on  their  arms  during  that 
clear,  starlight  night,  no  one  could  doubt  what 
the  morning  would  bring  forth.  Ever  and  anon, 
throughout  its  wakeful  hours,  the  fierce  firing  of 
the  pickets  reminded  us  of  the  presence  of  a 
stubborn  foe. 

Just  as  the  gray  dawn  of  the  morning  of  the 
17th  streaked  the  sky,  a  volley  of  musketry,  out 
on  the  picket  line,  changed  the  whole  appear 
ance  of  those  once  quiet  fields.  Up  from  among 
the  stalks  of  corn,  sprung  ranks  of  armed  men; 
while  from  sheltered  woods  and  every  rising 
knoll,  the  artillery  of  friend  and  foe  was  sending 
forth  shot  and  shell.  Hooker  had  inaugurated 
the  great  conflict. 

In  front  of  General  Hooker's  position,  with 
their  backs  resting  against  a  skirt  of  timber,  were 
the  forces  of  Stonewall  Jackson,  consisting  of  the 
divisions  of  McLaws,  Anderson,  and  A.  P.  Hill. 
They  were  the  flower  of  the  Confederate  army,  re 
turned  from  their  successful  attack  on  Harper's 
Ferry,  and  placed  opposite  our  right,  because  there 
were  to  be  met  the  heaviest  blows  of  the  battle. 

When  Hooker  said,  "This  is  one  of  the  world's 
great  days,"  he  must  have  felt  what  he  expressed; 
for  his  own  enthusiasm  was  imparted  to  his  men. 
Nothing  could  withstand  the  impetuosity  of  that 


BATTLE    OF    ANTIETAM.  127 

first  attack  on  the  right  to  carry  the  rebel  posi 
tion.  The  enemy's  heavy  line  of  skirmishers 
fell  back  almost  without  resistance,  exposing  his 
main  lines  to  a  determined  fire  of  shell  and  can 
ister,  from  batteries  run  out  within  the  closest 
possible  range.  Over  the  plowed  ground  that 
intervened,  through  the  fields  of  corn,  and  into 
the  woods  beyond,  were  driven  the  shattered 
lines  of  the  rebels. 

The  fighting  had  now  become  general  on  the 
right,  and  heavy  forces  of  reserves  were  brought 
forward  to  strengthen  and  hold  the  ground  we 
had  Drained  in  our  first  assault.  But  in  front  of 

C 

that  woods  into  which  the  enemy  was  driven,  our 
advance  halted.  Fresh  rebel  troops  were  coming 
to  the  rescue  of  their  comrades.  Volley  after 
volley  of  musketry  lighted  up  its  dark  bosom,  as 
line  upon  line  of  Confederates  issued  from  it. 

The  fortune  of  the  day  seemed  suddenly  to 
change.  The  rebels  were  now  advancing;  and 
our  own  gallant  lines  that  but  a  moment  before 
moved  through  the  cornfield  in  such  overwhelm 
ing  force,  came  back  broken  and  depleted.  The 
watchful  eye  of  Hooker  took  in  the  whole  scene 
at  a  glance. 

"  Send  me  your  best  brigade,"  was  his  message 
to  Ricketts. 

In  a  moment,  Hartsuff's  Brigade,  that  had 
been  in  position  on  a  slight  elevation  near  the 
house  of  Joseph  Poffenberger,  came  down  the 


128  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

hill  on  a  double-quick,  through  the  open  ground 
beyond,  and  into  the  cornfield;  passing,  as  they 
went,  the  fragments  of  three  brigades  shattered 
by  the  rebel  fire  and  now  streaming  to  the  rear. 

"  I  think  they  will  hold  it,"  said  Hooker,  as  he 
saw  that  splendid  brigade  of  veteran  troops 
moving  on  under  a  galling  and  destructive  fire. 

At  the  moment  of  entering  the  cornfield,  a 
conspicuous  mark  to  the  enemy,  the  brave  Hart- 
suff  fell  from  his  horse  severely  wounded. 

"Forward,  Third  Brigade  !"  rung  out  the  voice 
of  Colonel  Coulter,  who  succeeded  to  the  com 
mand. 

"  Steadily,  but  not  hurriedly,  up  the  hill  they 
^o,  forming  on  the  crest.  Not  a  man  who  was  not 

O      /  O 

in  full  view — not  one  who  bent  before  the  storm. 
Firing  first  in  volleys,  they  fired  then  at  will, 
with  wonderful  rapidity  and  effect.  The  whole 
line  crowned  the  hill  and  stood  out  darkly  against 
the  sky;  but  lighted  and  shrouded  ever  in  flame 
and  smoke.  There,  for  half  an  hour,  they  held 
the  ridge,  unyielding  in  purpose,  exhaustless  in 
courage.  There  were  gaps  in  the  line,  but  it 
nowhere  bent.  Their  supports  did  not  come, 
and  they  determined  to  win  without  them.  They 
were  there  to  win  that  field,  and  they  won  it. 
The  rebel  line  for  the  second  time  fled  through 
the  corn  and  into  the  woods.  I  cannot  tell  how 
few  of  HartsufFs  Brigade  were  left  when  the 
work  was  done,  but  it  was  done.  There  was  no 


FIGHTING    ON   THE    RIGHT.  129 

more  gallant,  determined,  heroic  fighting  in  all 
this  desperate  day."* 

The  battle  had  reached  a  crisis  on  the  right. 
Ricketts's  Division  exhausted  itself  in  the  vain 
endeavor  to  advance  beyond  the  woods.  Part  of 
Mansfield's  Corps  was  ordered  in  to  their  relief; 
but  the  general  was  mortally  wounded,  and  the 
troops  halted  on  the  crest  of  the  hill. 

It  was  nine  o'clock,  and  all  the  fighting  had 
been  done  by  the  Corps  of  Hooker  and  Mans 
field.  Presently  Sumner's  Corps  came  on  to  the 
ground,  forming  to  the  left  of  Mansfield.  Still 
later,  French  and  Richardson  arrived,  and  about 
noon  the  Corps  of  General  Franklin.  But  though 
the  troops  had  fought  only  in  detachments, — 
Hooker  in  the  morning,  then  Mansfield,  then 
Sumner,  then  Franklin,  and  Burnside  far  on  the 
left, — the  enemy  had  been  pushed  back  from 
many  of  his  strongest  positions,  and  when  wel 
come  night  covered  the  ensanguined  field,  the 
vantage-ground  belonged  to  the  Federal  army. 

In  the  thoughts  of  the  men,  daylight  would 
renew  the  battle,  and  each  soldier  stood  in  his 
place,  waiting  for  the  coming  dawn.  But  the 
whole  of  Thursday  passed  without  any  demon 
stration  from  those  lines, — still  confronting  each 
other, — that  only  on  the  yesterday  were  full  of 
bitter  hostility. 

*  Geo.  X.  Smalley,  in  N.  T.  Tribune. 


130  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

Again  the  shades  of  night  covered  Antietam. 
Rlcketts's  Division  held  the  extreme  right  of  the 
army;  and  the  general  was  cautioned  to  take 
care  of  his  flank.  McClellan  determined  to  re 
new  the  attack  on  Friday  morning,  with  a  vigor 
increased  by  one  day  of  rest.  But  when  Friday 
came,  from  every  commanding  ridge  and  hidden 
ravine, — from  open  fields  and  sheltered  woods, — 
the  enemy  had  disappeared,  and  the  rapid  Po 
tomac  rolled  between  the  two  opposing  armies. 

The  Eleventh  went  into  the  battle  on  Wednes 
day  morning,  a  mere  handful  compared  with  its 
former  self, — nine  commissioned  officers,  and  two 
hundred  and  twenty-six  men.  The  other  regi 
ments  of  the  brigade  were  but  little  larger,  for 
altogether  it  only  numbered  eleven  hundred. 

Hoffman's  farm-house  —  a  substantial  stone 
building — was  taken  for  a  hospital;  and  every 
moment,  from  the  firing  of  the  first  gun  at  break 
of  day,  until  they  were  relieved  by  other  troops, 
the  wounded  were  coming  in  from  Hartsuff's 
Brigade.  A  wounded  man  naturally  desires  to 
be  among  his  friends ;  and  by  keeping  the  brigade 
together,  the  surgeons  were  certain  that  all 
would  receive  like  proper  care  and  attention. 

In  what  quick  succession  they  seemed  to  come 
from  that  angry  front.  Scarcely  eight  o'clock, 
and  seventy  men  of  the  Eleventh  Regiment  lay 
bleeding  and  groaning  in  the  yard  of  that  farm 
house.  When  the  battle  ceased,  five  officers  out 


SCENES    IN    THE    HOSPITAL.  131 

of  the  nine  were  disabled,  and  one  hundred  and 
twenty  of  the  men  killed  and  wounded.  Of  the 
eleven  hundred  of  Hartsuff's  Brigade  that 
marched  so  steadily  through  that  field  of  corn, 
only  five  hundred  returned. 

From  the  field  of  Waterloo,  after  the  battle 
had  spent  its  fury,  and  in  the  midst  of  its  reeking 
carnage,  the  Duke  of  Wellington  wrote  to  a 
friend:  "I  have  escaped  unhurt;  the  finger  of 
Providence  was  on  me."  And  those  brave  men, 
as  they  looked  over  that  field  of  Antietam, 
strewed  with  the  harvest  of  death, — through 
which  they  had  passed  unhurt, — with  a  manli 
ness  of  heart  equal  to  that  of  the  English  duke, 
confessed  that  the  finger  of  God  was  upon  them. 

The  hospital  is  a  place  where  one  may  look 
on  the  battle-field  shorn  of 

"The  pomp  and  circumstance  of  war." 

To  see  those  with  whom  you  have  been  in  daily 
intercourse, — with  whom  you  have  exchanged 
all  the  kind  amenities  of  social  life,  and  Christian 
fellowship, — to  see  these  lacerated  by  gaping 
wounds,  bleeding  and  dying,  is  a  harrowing 
sight,  from  which  you  would  gladly  turn  away. 

Many  of  the  young  men  of  the  Eleventh  Regi 
ment  came  from  praying  families,  and  during 
the  gracious  revivals  of  religion  that  preceded 
the  rebellion,  some  had  made  a  personal  conse 
cration  of  themselves  to  the  service  of  God. 


132  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

Not  only  at  Annapolis,  but  through  all  the  sub 
sequent  campaigns,  however  wearisome  the 
marches  or  fatiguing  the  duties,  there  were  a 
few  who  could  always  find  the  time  and  the 
place  to  pay  their  vows  to  the  Most  High. 

Every  foot  of  ground  over  which  we  marched 
and  fought  has  a  deep  and  abiding  interest.  But 
those  secluded  spots,  just  outside  of  camp  limits, 
where  the  meeting  for  evening  prayer  was  held, 
will  live  longest  in  the  memory  of  all.  Faithful 
to  their  Divine  Master,  they  were  also  faithful 
to  their  country;  and  at  Thoroughfare  Gap,  and 
Bull  Run,  and  Antietam,  the  first  to  fall  were 
from  among  these  young  men. 

There  was  one  thing  belonging  to  the  battle 
field  not  to  be  seen  in  our  hospital,  —  its  foul 
spirit  of  hate.  The  term/oe  was  there  forgotten. 
All  were  now  friends.  A  soldier  from  Maine 
and  another  from  Georgia — the  one  having  lost 
an  arm,  and  the  other  a  leg — occupied  the  same 
pallet  of  straw.  A  South  Carolinian,  slightly 
hurt  in  the  head,  was  the  cook  for  himself  and 
two  severely  wounded  Xew  Yorkers.  A  volun 
teer  from  Pennsylvania  and  a  conscript  from 
Alabama,  sheltered  under  the  same  tent,  wrere  as 
fraternal  in  "their  acts  of  kindness  as  though  they 
had  fought  side  by  side,  and  not  in  opposing 
ranks. 

With  the  earliest  knowledge  of  Lee's  retreat, 
a  squad  of  surgeons  and  chaplains  repaired  to  the 


ANTIETAM  AFTER  THE  BATTLE.       133 

battle-field.  If  any  of  the  wounded  that  could 
not  be  reached  during  the  first  days'  engagement 
had  lived  through  Thursday,  the  object  of  our 
visit  was  to  give  them  the  speediest  relief.  But 
that  field,  furrowed  by  cannon  shots  and  strewed 
in  every  direction  with  human  forms,  was  a  place 
of  the  dead.  Cries  of — water! — water! — uttered 
in  tones  of  beseeching  agony,  fell  upon  our  ears 
in  the  first  hours  of  the  battle.  Now  every 
tongue  was  still,  and  every  heart  had  beat  its 
last  pulsation. 

Death  came  to  many  with  musket  raised  to 
the  shoulder,  in  the  very  act  of  firing;  and  in 
falling  forward,  the  dead  soldier  kept  fast  hold  of 
his  gun.  Others,  again,  lay  on  the  ground,  with 
arms  wide  extended,  and  the  last  look  of  anguish 
fixed  in  the  rigid  features.  In  a  single  row,  with 
scarcely  two  feet  between  them,  were  eighty-one 
of  the  enemy's  dead.  It  was  a  battle-line  mov 
ing  forward,  each  man  meeting  death  at  the 
same  instant.  Such  a  volley,  telling  so  fearfully 
on  the  front  rank,  was  a  complete  check  at  that 
point ;  for  there  were  no  indications  here  of  ad 
vance  and  retreat,  as  were  seen  on  other  parts  of 
that  ground,  in  the  bodies  of  friend  and  foe  fall 
ing  together. 

We  had  only  to  pass  up  through  Miller's  corn 
field,  and  into  the  woods  beyond,  to  find  most  of 
the  slain  belonging  to  the  Eleventh.  Writing 
the  name  of  each  man  on  a  slip  of  paper,  with 

12 


134  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

the  number  of  the  regiment  and  the  letter  of  his 
company,  and  fastening  it  to  coat  or  shirt,  the 
graves  of  our  comrades  were  so  plainly  marked, 
that  when  friends  came  to  remove  sons  and 
brothers,  we  could  point  with  certainty  to  all 
that  remained  of  brave  and  loving  hearts. 


CHAPTER  III. 

ARMY    OF    THE    POTOMAC    IX    REPOSE. 

MOVING  forward  from  the  battle-field  late  Fri 
day  afternoon,  Hartsuff's  Brigade  went  into  camp 
on  a  bluff  overlooking  the  Potomac.  The  river 
was  between  us  and  the  enemy;  the  firing  heard 
at  intervals  during  the  day  was  away  toward 
Harper's  Ferry,  and  each  soldier,  wrapping  up 
in  blanket,  promised  himself  a  night  of  needed 
repose.  But  our  slumbers  were  disturbed  near 
midnight  by  a  frightened  courier,  who  reported 
a  large  body  of  Stuart's  cavalry  north  of  the 
Potomac. 

The  whole  brigade  was  marched  three  miles 
up  the  river  to  guard  the  fording,  and,  if  possible, 
intercept  Stuart.  The  movement  was  sufficiently 
adventurous  to  arouse  the  most  sluggish,  as  we 
passed  over  roads  darkened  by  heavy  forests,  and 
every  ear  was  strained  to  catch  the  faintest  sound 
of  tramping  horsemen. 


CAMP  IN  WALNUT  GROVE.         135 

The  troops  were  disposed  along  the  roads  lead 
ing  to  the  river  to  the  best  possible  advantage, 
Colonel  Coulter  finding  himself  in  the  vicinity 
of  his  first  explorations  of  the  Potomac,  under 
General  Patterson.  The  watch  was  maintained 
until  Saturday  at  sundown;  but  no  foe  showing 
himself  to  be  near,  the  brigade  was  relieved  and 
returned  to  camp. 

Those  were  glorious  autumn  days  that  followed 
the  battle  of  Antietam.  The  camp  of  our  divi 
sion  was  in  a  walnut  grove,  on  the  farm  of  James 
Rowe,  with  the  Potomac  in  full  view.  It  was 
not  easy  to  realize  that  the  narrow,  rocky  stream 
rolling  below  was  the  same  Potomac,  of  such 
majestic  proportions,  that  we  had  crossed  at 
Washington.  The  course  of  the  river  was  like 
that  of  an  unpromising  youth,  disappointing  all 
the  ill  prophecies  drawn  from  a  mean  beginning, 
and  developing  at  last  a  sturdy  and  magnificent 
manhood.  They  were  also  days  of  masterly  in 
activity.  Company  drill  and  battalion  drill  were 
observed  as  usual.  But  however  interesting  such 
exercises  might  be  to  the  new  recruit,  to  those 
veterans,  who  had  made  their  evolutions  to  the 
music  of  charging  columns  and  bursting  shells, 

»c>         O  O 

all  ordinary  drill  was  dull  monotony. 

There  was  business  enough,  however,  at  regi 
mental  headquarters.  The  numerous  vacancies 
in  the  list  of  commissioned  officers  were  to  be 
filled,  amounting  almost  to  a  reorganization  of 


STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

the  regiment.  Major  Frink  was  promoted  to  the 
vacated  place  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Martin. 
Captain  J.  B.  Keenan,  of  Co.  K,  was  made  major. 
In  Co.  B  Lieutenant  Haines  took  the  place  of 
Captain  Shanks,  killed  at  Thoroughfare  Gap  ; 
Second  Lieutenant  Tapp  was  made  first  lieu 
tenant,  and  J.  P.  Straw  second  lieutenant.  In 
Co.  D  Sergeant  J.  B.  Overmyer  was  appointed 
captain  in  room  of  Captain  Sees,  honorably  dis 
charged;  Jas.  T.  Chalfant,  transferred  from  the 
Ninth  Regiment  Pennsylvania  Reserve  Corps, 
first  lieutenant,  in  place  of  Lieutenant  Saxton, 
killed  at  Thoroughfare,  and  Sergeant  F.  J.  Cross 
second  lieutenant,  in  place  of  E.  T.  Tiers,  dis 
charged  to  become  captain  in  another  Pennsyl 
vania  regiment.  In  Co.  E,  Second  Lieutenant 
II.  B.  Piper  took  the  place  of  Lieutenant  G.  R. 
Dalby,  killed  at  Bull  Run,  and  Sergeant  Samuel 
J.  Hamill  was  promoted  to  second  lieutenant. 
In  Co.  F,  Second  Lieutenant  E.  H.  Gay  took  the 
position  of  Captain  D.  M.  Cook,  honorably  dis 
charged;  and  Sergeant  Robert  Anderson,  of  Co. 
K,  was  appointed  second  lieutenant.  In  Co.  H, 
Sergeant  Daniel  C.  Tubbs  was  made  second  lieu 
tenant  in  place  of  Lieutenant  Hyndman,  killed 
at  Bull  Run.  In  Co.  I,  Second  Lieutenant  Jacob 
X.  Thomas  took  the  place  of  Captain  George  A. 
Cribbs,  who  died  of  wounds  received  at  Bull 
Run;  and  Sergeant  A.  Lobaugh  was  promoted 
to  second  lieutenant.  Lieutenant  Lobaugh  died 


FORAGING    FOR    THE    MESS.  137 

at  Hagerstown,  of  wounds  received  at  Antietam, 
before  his  commission  from  the  Governor  of 
Pennsylvania  reached  the  regiment.  In  Co.  K, 
First  Lieutenant  Walter  J.  Jones  resigned;  Sec 
ond  Lieutenant  John  Reed  was  appointed  captain 
in  place  of  Captain  Keenan  promoted,  but  died 
of  wounds  received  at  Antietam  before  his  com 
mission  arrived.  Corporal  W.  A.  Kuhns  was 
appointed  second  lieutenant;  afterward  promoted 
to  first  lieutenant,  and  Corporal  Freeman  C.  Gay 
made  second  lieutenant. 

Since  the  death  of  Colonel  Martin,  it  had  fallen 
to  the  chaplain  to  keep  the  mess — now  increased 
to  more  than  the  original  number  by  the  addition 
of  adjutant  and  surgeons — in  rations.  We  were 
so  nearly  starved  in  Virginia,  that  in  a  land  of 
plenty  each  one's  appetite  seemed  determined  on 
making  amends  for  past  compulsory  fasting. 
"  Sold  out,"  was  the  reply  to  inquiries  for  any 
kind  of  provender,  made  of  farmers  living  near 
the  camp.  Then  we  had  to  enlarge  the  circle  of 
our  operations,  sometimes  in  one  direction  and 
again  in  another. 

While  the  cook  Strauthers,  who  always  accom 
panied  us  on  these  foraging  expeditions,  rode  off 
a  short  distance  further  to  secure  some  articles 
for  which  he  had  bargained  on  a  former  visit,  we 
remained  at  Bakersville,  in  conversation  with  an 
old  woman  with  whom  we  had  agreed  for  a 
supply  of  shanghais. 

12* 


138  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

"  Them  chickens  were  raised  for  my  own  use; 
hut  I  am  always  ready  to  divide  with  a  soldier, 
even  to  the  last  half  a  loaf  of  bread." 

The  old  lady  had  no  very  flattering  opinion  of 
the  Virginians,  and  was  greatly  delighted  at  the 
defeat  of  the  rebel  army. 

;'Them  Virginians  always  thought  they  were 
a  heap  smarter  than  the  Marylanders.  But  I 
told  them  they  had  better  stay  at  home ;  that 
they  would  find  out  to  their  sorrow  we  had  just 
as  smart  people  here  as  they  had  over  there.  I 
always  said  this  fight  would  come  some  day. 
But  they  said  I  was  dumb,  and  didn't  know  any 
thing.  "Well,  I  don't  know  much ;  but  I  know 
the  good  Book  says  the  lather  shall  rise  against 
the  son,  and  the  son  against  the  father ;  and 
aint  that  so,  now?  I  knew  it  would  come,  but  I 
was  never  afraid  that  the  South  would  whip  the 
North.  It  will  all  be  right  by-and-by,  mind  I 
tell  you.  I  told  my  son  John,  the  other  day,  that 
as  I  had  seen  the  first  of  this  war  I  should  like 
to  see  the  end  of  it;  and  John  said,  '  La,  mother, 
do  you  expect  to  live  that  long?'  Do  you  think 
the  war  will  end  soon  ?" 

The  arrival  of  Strauthers,  and  his  violent 
demonstrations  in  the  chicken  yard,  put  an  end 
to  the  harangue.  It  was  four  miles  to  camp,  and 
night  was  coming  on.  AVe  could  not  even  guess 
how  much  longer  the  war  would  last;  but  sin 
cerely  hoping  that  all  would  be  right  in  the  end, 
we  took  our  leave. 


LOUISIANA    VS.   VIRGINIA.  139 

That  old  woman  in  Maryland  was  not  the  only 
one  to  entertain  a  mean  opinion  of  her  Virginia 
neighbors.  A  Louisiana  captain  said  : 

"There  is  nothing  in  Virginia  to  make  any 
one  fall  in  love  with  it.  Her  men  are  mean  and 
her  women  ugly.  I  would  trade  off  Virginia  to 
day  for  Maryland.  I  think  there  is  more  of  the 
cunning  Yankee  and  his  cowardly  disposition 
among  the  people  of  that  State,  notwithstanding 
their  high  pretensions  to  chivalry,  than  can  be 
found  among  any  other  class  of  men  in  the  Con 
federate  service. 

"There  is  General  R.  A.  Pry  or,  whose  politi 
cal  and  dueling  reputation  got  him  a  military 
position  for  which  he  is  totally  unqualified.  He 
is  not  only  a  coward,  but  a  knave.  At  one  of 
the  recent  battles  he  lost  his  command,  and  of 
fered  some  of  the  Louisiana  boys  a  fifty-days' 
furlough  if  they  would  point  it  out  to  him.  I 
have  heard  aids  to  our  generals  say  that  they 
would  rather  be  dispatched  with  orders  for  any 
other  officer  on  the  ground  in  time  of  battle  than 
Pryor,  as  he  is  always  the  most  difficult  person 
to  find,  and  when  found  is  usually  posted  as  se 
cretly  as  possible  in  some  safe  place." 

SUNDAY,  Sept.  20. — Another  delightful  day. 
The  clouds  that  obscured  the  early  rising  of  the 
sun,  gradually  floated  away,  and  toward  ten 
o'clock  the  morning  was  as  bright  as  though  no 
threatening  rain  clouds  had  marred  its  early 


140  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

beauty.  Six  o'clock  in  the  evening  we  held  our 
public  religious  services  in  connection  with  the 
dress  parade.  The  sun  had  gone  down  behind 
the  Virginia  hills,  as  the  regiment  marched  out 
upon  the  open  green  to  the  rear  of  headquarters. 
Almost  every  man  in  camp  was  present,  each  one 
manifesting  by  a  becoming  and  quiet  demeanor 
his  interest  in  the  duties  of  the  hour.  These  words 
of  Paul,  addressed  to  the  Ephesians,  "My  breth 
ren,  put  on  the  whole  armor,"  were  read  as  a  text. 

It  was  remarked  that  they  must  all  have  ob 
served  the  familiar  as  well  as  kindly  manner  in 
which  the  Scriptures  address  us.  The  Bible  is  a 
gift  from  God ;  but  it  came  intermediately  through 
men,  men  like  ourselves,  and  therefore  in  its 
spirit  it  is  like  the  address  of  one  man  to  an 
other.  The  Apostle  calls  us  brethren,  and  as  a 
brother  he  delivers  his  instructions.  There  is 
another  thing  that  endears  Paul  to  us.  It  is  said 
that  he  was  a  soldier,  and  from  the  frequency 
with  which  he  uses  illustrations  and  phrases 
drawn  from  the  soldier's  life,  this  may  be  true. 
He  talks  about  lighting  a  good  fight;  warring  a 
good  warfare;  and  of  putting  on  the  whole  ar 
mor  as  though  he  knew  all  about  it. 

We  are  to  understand  Paul  as  teaching  that 
everything  that  goes  to  make  up  the  complete 
soldier  is  to  be  secured;  no  part  of  the  armor 
must  be  neglected.  The  brave,  valiant,  and  suc 
cessful  soldier  is  always  fully  equipped.  You 


A    SERMON    IN    CAMP.  141 

would  not  regard  that  comrade  who  should  go 
into  the  battle  with  his  cartridge  box  only,  as 
fully  armed ;  neither  that  one  who,  leaving  his 
cartridge  box  behind,  should  take  only  his  mus 
ket.  In  order  to  put  on  the  whole  armor  he 
must  have  both  gun  and  cartridge  box,  bayonet 
and  scabbard. 

A  good  cause,  personal  bravery,  a  spirit  that 
will  lead  to  death  rather  than  turn  the  back  to 
the  foe,  are  essential  parts  of  every  soldier's 
armor.  So  far  as  these  are  concerned,  you  are 
fully  armed.  Your  cause  is  the  cause  of  human 
ity.  It  concerns  all  peoples.  Are  there  anxious 
hearts  here  in  our  own  nation  awaiting  the  result 
of  this  contest?  There  are  hearts  as  anxious 
in  every  nation  under  the  sun.  We  have  taught 
other  nations  that  man  is  free;  that  God  has 
made  him  capable  of  self-government.  We  have 
taught  them  new  ideas;  awakened  in  them  new 
hopes.  Through  our  teachings  they  have  been 
aroused  to  action.  If  we  succeed,  a  bright 
future  opens  to  them.  If  we  fail,  a  darker 
night,  because  of  the  already  dawning  day, 
closes  around  them.  Our  cause  is  good;  it  is 
our  country's  cause, — the  country  that  God  gave 
to  us,  and  that  bears  the  seal  of  our  fathers' 
blood.  As  to  your  personal  bravery,  let  the 
battle-fields  of  Cedar  Mountain,  Rappahaunock 
Station,  Thoroughfare  Gap,  Bull  Run,  Chan- 
tilly,  South  Mountain,  Antietam,  speak.  That 


142  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

you  are  ready  to  die  rather  than  forsake  the 
cause  in  which  you  have  engaged,  or  dim  the 
glory  of  your  flag,  let  our  thinned  ranks  tell,  let 
our  three  hundred  killed  and  wounded  declare. 

This  part  of  your  armor  is  complete.  But, 
according  to  Paul,  my  comrades,  this  is  not  the 
whole  armor;  and  Paul  knew  whereof  he  affirmed. 
He  was  a  soldier,  and  a  courageous  soldier,  ^o 
craven  fear  entered  his  manly  heart.  He  is, 
therefore,  a  proper  person  to  teach,  and  his 
teachings  ought  to  be  regarded.  We  must  ever 
remember  that  the  circumscribed  present  is  not 
the  only  field  of  action  upon  which  the  soldier 
who  hears  me  to-day  will  be  marshaled.  The 
impudent  foe,  that  threatens  with  insulting  boast 
ing,  to  demolish  our  fair  fabric  of  State,  is  not 
the  only  one  he  is  called  upon  to  meet.  We 
must  remember  that  sacred  as  is  our  allegiance 
to  country,  laudable  as  is  the  ambition  to  deserve 
well  at  her  hands,  our  allegiance  to  heaven  is 
more  sacred,  and  to  be  approved  of  God  is  an 
ambition  higher  than  to  be  approved  of  man. 
Each  one  of  us  will  soon  overstep  the  boundaries 
of  time,  and  enter  upon  the  boundless  eternity. 
Spiritual  foes — whose  name  is  legion — invest  us 
on  every  side.  The  eye  of  the  Almighty,  looking 
through  every  covering,  now  beholds  us. 

It  is  for  this  higher  service,  for  this  more  im- 

O 

portant  field  of  action,  and  these  more  subtle 
enemies,  that  our  brother  Paul  would  prepare  us. 


A    SERMON    IN    CAMP.  143 

And  we  may  see  in  this  kindly  advice  something 
of  that  regard  which  every  soldier  feels  for  his 
fellow-soldier.  War  may  accustom  one  to  scenes 
of  carnage  and  bloodshed ;  but  war  also  devel 
ops  the  most  generous  sentiments  of  our  na 
ture.  Let  a  companion  fall  on  the  battle-field, 
and  a  score  of  hands  are  ready  to  raise  him  up. 
Let  an  enemy,  wounded  and  bleeding,  cast  him 
self  down  before  you,  and  he  is  treated  like  a 
brother.  Paul  knew  the  soldier's  generosity, 
and  with  a  generosity  nearly  akin  to  it,  urges  his 
brother  soldiers  to  put  on  the  whole  armor,  that 
having  deserved  well  of  his  country,  he  might 
deserve  and  secure  the  more  enduring  honor  of 
heaven. 

How  to  secure  this  additional  armor  is  an  old 
story,  my  fellow-soldiers.  The  road  to  heaven's 
arsenal  has  ever  been  the  way  of  the  CROSS.  Re 
pentance  toward  God;  an  acceptance  of  Christ 
as  our  Saviour;  a  life  of  prayer,  of  trust,  of  obe 
dience,  of  faith,  puts  us  in  possession  of  the  whole 
annor,  and  equips  the  soldier  entire.  I  must 
warn  you  against  embracing  that  wide-spread 
fallacy,  that  the  life  of  the  Christian  and  the  life 
of  the  soldier  are  so  far  apart  as  to  make  it  ut 
terly  impossible  for  them  to  meet  in  the  same 
person,  and  that  the  best  soldier  is  the  man  who 
is  least  religious,  or  who  has  thrown  off,  to  the 
greatest  degree,  all  moral  restraint. 

Let  me  ask  you  what  constitutes  a  good  sol- 


144  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

dier?  Certainly  not  brute  force  merely,  nor  an 
ignorant  recklessness  of  life.  Show  me  the  man 
to  whose  courage  and  bravery  is  added  a  sense 
of  his  responsibility  to  God,  one  who  believes 
that  his  motives  and  actions  here  are  to  give 
shape  and  coloring  to  his  life  in  the  other 
world,  and  I  will  show  yon  the  best  soldier. 
If  the  path  of  duty  leads  him  to  the  very  mouth 
of  the  cannon,  or  upon  the  sharp  points  of  the 
enemy's  charging  bayonets,  will  a  preparation 
to  die,  and  a  sense  of  his  acceptance  with  God, 
in  the  least  degree  interfere  with  the  discharge 
of  his  duty?  Rather  has  not  such  a  one  put  on 
the  whole  armor;  and  who,  more  than  he,  is  fit 
for  such  deeds  of  noble  daring  ?  A  profession 
of  religion  hightens  every  joy  of  life.  It  does 
not  blunt,  but  quickens  every  sensibility;  and 
yet  with  every  joy  hightened,  and  every  sensibil 
ity  quickened,  the  Christian  is  brave  to  dare  and 
bold  to  do  whatever  God  or  his  country  de 
mands. 

Let  me  ask  you  another  question.  If  we  ne 
glect  to  put  on  the  whole  armor  from  those  more 
subtle  foes  to  which  I  have  alluded,  who  shall 
defend  us  ?  Vice  is  always  degrading.  Every 
sin  we  commit  detracts  from  our  true  manhood, 
and  makes  us  mean  and  despicable  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Almighty,  in  the  eyes  of  good  men,  and 
in  our  own  eyes.  I  am  sorry  that  in  this  camp, 
and  among  our  own  brave  men,  so  manv  vices 


A    SERMON    IN    CAMP.  145 

prevail.  Some  of  you  are  profane;  some  are  in 
temperate;  some  are  gamblers.  How  sad  to  see 

men  who  have  noblv  contended  for  so  ffood   a 

"  ® 

cause  as  ours,  men  who  but  yesterday  were  vic 
tors  on  this  hard-fought  field,  to-day  captives  in 
the  hands  of  these  gross  vices.  Rouse  ye,  solr 
diers  !  In  the  name  of  Jesus,  rouse  ye  !  Put  on 
the  whole  armor,  and  then  you  shall  be  able  to 
meet  every  foe ;  those  of  your  country,  and 
those  greater  enemies  of  your  souls  as  well. 

There  are  loved  ones  at  home  who  daily  pray 
God  to  watch  over  and  protect  you.  You  can 
not  imagine  with  what  intense  interest  every 
thing  from  the  battle-field  is  read  by  them. 
AVhat  heartfelt  thanks  went  up  to  heaven  that 
you  had  escaped  where  so  many  fell.  But  think 
you,  comrades,  they  have  no  other  concern  than 
for  your  personal  safety  ?  Dearly  as  that  wife  or 
mother  loves  you,  fondly  as  that  sister  thinks  of 
you,  she  would  rather  you  had  died  on  the  san 
guinary  field  of  Antietam,  by  the  side  of  your 
brave  companion,  than  to  return  to  her  arms  a 
thing  loathsome  and  degraded  by  vicious  habits. 
Every  interest  conspires,  brother  soldiers,  to  make 
it  our  duty  to  put  on  the  whole  armor.  Our  duty 
to  God,  our  duty  to  our  country,  our  duty  to  self, 
our  duty  to  friends,  all  require  it.  May  you  be 
thus  equipped;  and  in  every  contest,  whether  with 
the  enemies  of  our  country  or  with  the  enemy 
that  leads  us  into  evil,  be  always  conquerors. 

13 


146  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

TENT    LIFE    IN    MARYLAND. 

OCTOBER  1. — The  new  month  made  its  begin 
ning  with  a  genial  shower  of  rain,  which  lasted 
long  enough  to  lay  the  dust,  and  give  to  the  trees 
a  greener  and  fresher  look.  It  is  now  night. 
The  moon  rides  through  a  cloudless  sky;  while 
the  hum  of  the  myriads  of  insects  that  swarm 
this  sylvan  retreat,  and  the  ceaseless  murmur  of 
the  river,  on  its  way  to  the  sea,  mingle  their 
somnific  music.  In  the  tent,  as  joint  occupants, 
are  the  two  surgeons.  They  have  already  spread 
their  blankets  on  the  ground,  and  though  present 
in  body  are  absent  in  spirit  in  the  land  of  visions. 

The  junior  doctor  is  by  himself.  The  senior 
and  the  chaplain  are  more  social,  and  sleep  on 
the  same  blankets.  The  junior  has  been  spend 
ing  some  time  at  the  Sharpsburg  hospital,  among 
the  rebel  wounded,  and  we  have  voted  him  out 
in  a  corner  until  he  shall  have  completed  his 
purification. 

We  could  wish  all  things  that  crawl  but  to 
contaminate  and  annoy,  might  be  kept  in  seces- 
sia  where  they  belong  by  right  of  possession. 


NIGHT    EXPERIENCES.  147 

But  even  in  this  loyal  State  of  Maryland,  there 
are  all  sorts  of  creeping  worms  and  flying  bugs. 
They  make  of  one's  body,  during  the  night  sea 
son,  a  common  highway.  Just  at  that  delicious 
moment  of  human  existence,  when  the  substantial 
world  is  fading  into  that  out  of  which  dreams 
come,  did  you  ever  have  one  of  those  long-legged 
spiders  take  the  dimensions  of  your  face  ?  Or  a 
black  beetle  persist  in  getting  into  your  ear, 
while  half  a  dozen  over-large  ants,  mistaking 
your  nose  for  an  ant-hill,  make  a  violent  effort 
to  stop  up  the  channel  through  which  you  draw 
your  ration  of  oxygen?  Then  you  never  made 
your  bed  on  the  ground,  overlooking  the  Poto 
mac,  in  the  State  of  Maryland. 

OCTOBER  6. — One  o'clock  this  morning,  General 

O  ' 

Porter,  on  the  extreme  left,  sent  word  that  the 
enemy  was  planting  cannon  on  the  hills  opposite 
Blcketts's  Division  ;  and  that  forces  were  moving 
up  the  Potomac.  The  headquarter  tents  of  the 
regiment,  pitched  near  the  outer  edge  of  the 
grove,  and  that  might  serve  as  an  admirable  tar 
get  from  the  other  side  of  the  river,  were  removed 
to  a  less  conspicuous  place. 

OCTOBER  7. — All  quiet  along  the  Potomac.  Xo 
enemy  has  shown  himself  on  the  opposite  shore. 
The  extensive  laundry  operations  afforded  by  the 
river,  somewhat  curtailed  through  the  rumors  of 

O 

yesterday,  are  again  as  active  as  ever.  General 
kelson  Taylor,  who  has  been  assigned  to  the 


148  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

command  of  the  brigade,  arrived  this  afternoon. 
We  have  lost  the  title  of  Hartsutf's  Brigade,  of 
which  we  had  reason  to  be  proud.  May  we  make 
a  reputation  as  honorable  under  our  new  name 
of  Taylor's  Brigade. 

During  the  last  ten  days  our  camp  has  been 
full  of  visitors.  Some  are  here  to  see  the  battle 
field;  others  come  on  the  sadder  errand  of  re 
moving  their  dead  to  the  quiet  resting-place  of 
the  church-yard  at  home,  or  the  family  burying 
ground. 

OCTOBER  11. — All  not  quiet  on  the  Potomac. 
From  Harper's  Ferry  to  Cumberland  there  is 
confusion  and  alarm.  If  anything  conceived  by 
Lee  could  astonish  one,  the  occupation  of  Cham- 
bersburg  by  the  rebel  cavalry  would  certainly  do 
it.  While  we  have  been  massing  our  army  at 
Harper's  Ferry,  and  sending  reconnoitering  par 
ties  as  far  south  as  Warrenton,  the  enemy  steals 
northward  around  our  pickets  and  invades  Penn 
sylvania.  When  will  we  be  able  to  cope  with 
this  wily,  and,  one  might  almost  say,  ubiquitous 
foe? 

SUNDAY,  October  12. — Last  night  the  regiment 
was  ordered  out  on  picket,  near  where  we  did 
duty  September  19th.  It  was  merely  precaution 
ary,  lest  Stuart  and  his  cavalry  might  feel  dis 
posed  to  recross  into  Virginia  via  Piper's  Ford. 
Returned  to  camp  late  this  afternoon,  where  or 
ders  were  in  waiting  to  cook  two  days'  rations, 
'preparatory  to  march. 


STUART'S  CAVALRY  RAID.  149 

OCTOBER  14. — To  cross  the  Potomac  from  Vir 
ginia  into  Maryland,  at  an  unguarded  ford,  with 
one  or  two  thousand  cavalry,  may  riot  have  been 
a  great  thing  in  a  military  point  of  view.  But 
with  that  number  of  men,  to  make  a  detour  from 
right  to  left  of  our  army,  through  a  densely  pop 
ulated  country,  compelling  the  surrender  of  a 
town  of  five  thousand  inhabitants,  capturing 
hundreds  of  horses,  and  thousands  of  dollars' 
worth  o»f  property,  and  with  all  this  booty,  and 
without  the  loss  of  a  man,  to  recross  into  Virginia, 
is  something  of  a  feat.  If  the  enemy  should  be 
falling  back  on  Richmond,  as  is  reported,  this 
raid  will  enable  him  to  do  so  with  better  grace ; 
while  to  a  large  degree  it  neutralizes  the  good 
effects  of  recent  victories. 

OCTOBER  16. — The  move  for  which  preparations 
have  been  making  for  several  days  past,  is  likely 
to  be  retarded  for  some  time  longer.  The  rain 
is  falling  heavily  on  our  tent-roof,  threatening  to 
sink  the  fordings  of  the  Potomac  too  deep  for 
crossing.  But  if  the  night  is  dark  and  cheerless 
without,  we  have  anything  but  a  cheerless  party 
within.  Two  of  the  doctors  are  engrossed  in  a 
game  of  checkers,  while  two  or  three  officers  are 
discussing  the  battle  of  Antietam.  Dr.  Morris, 
the  latest  addition  to  the  medical  department, 
who  weighs  full  two  hundred  pounds,  in  the  vain 
attempt  to  adjust  himself  to  an  army  bed,  is 
loudly  bemoaning  the  loss  of  home-sleeping  com- 
13* 


150  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

forts,  only  appreciated  in  their  absence.    Pushing 
aside  the  checker-board,  Doctor  Phelps  inquired: 

"  Chaplain,  did  I  ever  tell  you  of  that  singular 
dream  1  had — if  dream  it  was — after  you  left  us 
in  the  hospital  at  Manassas?" 

Not  one  of  the  company  had  heard  it,  and  the 
doctor  was  urged  to  proceed. 

"  You  remember  that  for  more  than  a  week  I 
was  on  the  sick  list.  The  fight  at  Thoroughfare 
Gap,  and  the  fatiguing  march  of  next  day  to 
Manassas  Junction  made  me  so  much  the  worse. 
Then  came  the  tearing  up  of  that  old  woman's 
house  for  a  hospital.  Scarcely  through  with  that, 
the  rebel  cavalry  made  a  dash  on  Manassas, 
capturing  ambulances,  drivers,  doctors,  and  all. 
The  horses  and  ambulances  were  appropriated  to 
their  own  use;  the  drivers  and  nurses  taken 
prisoners;  the  wounded  paroled,  and  the  doctors 
marched  off  to  Colonel  Rosser's  headquarters. 
The  colonel  generously  dismissed  the  surgeons, 
and  sent  them  back  to  take  care  of  the  sick.  I 
returned  to  the  hospital  completely  prostrated ; 
and  for  once  you  might  have  seen  the  strange  sight 
of  a  doctor  taking  his  own  physic.  The  medicine 
quieted  my  nerves  and  produced  a  feeling  of  drow 
siness.  Lying  on  the  bed,  and  conscious  of  every 
thing  around  me,  the  two  armies  were  seen  con 
fronting  each  other  in  line  of  battle.  At  the 
head  of  the  rebel  troops  was  a  figure  of  giant 
size,  that  seemed  to  walk  through  our  ranks  with 


DREAMS    AND    VISIONS.  151 

the  utmost  impunity,  the  whole  Southern  army 
following  close  behind.  The  Eleventh  Regiment 
lay  directly  in  his  track,  and  the  men  were  fall 
ing  to  the  right  and  left  like  mown  wheat.  The 
exclamations  of  horror  uttered  at  such  a  sight 
attracted  the  attention  of  some  one  in  the  room, 
who  came  to  the  bedside  to  inquire  w^hat  was 
the  matter.  What  is  the  matter!  Why,  the 
rebels  are  whipping  us.  Pope's  army  is  giving 
way  at  all  points,  in  rout  and  defeat.  You  all 
know  that  the  result  of  the  Bull  Run  battle  was 
nearly  to  the  letter  as  seen  in  my  dream." 

A  long  discussion  followed  on  the  philosophy 
of  dreams  and  visions.  It  was  certainly  very 
ungenerous  in  one  of  the  company  to  speak  in 
that  particular  connection  of  Goethe's  story  of 
Dr.  Faust,  leaving  us  not  only  to  infer  that  the 
huge  figure  at  the  head  of  the  rebel  army  was 
the  same  well-known  Mephistopheles,  who 
formed  such  a  close  alliance  with  that  ancient 
physician,  but  that  the  propensity  to  form  simi 
lar  alliances  still  belonged  to  the  profession ! 
Perhaps  it  \vas  the  pelting  storm  without,  that  in 
angry  blasts  drove  the  rain  against  our  tent,  and 
went  howling  dismally  through  the  trees, — a  real 
night  for  the  witches  of  Brocken  to  be  astir, — 
that  suo^ested  the  thought. 


CHAPTER  I. 

M'CLELLAX    SUPERSEDED    BY    BURXSIDE. 

FOUR  days  from  the  close  of  October,  Ricketts's 
Division  bade  good-by  to  Walnut  Grove,  and 
marched  to  Berlin.  The  delightful  autumn 
weather  was  at  an  end,  and  with  the  beginning 
of  winter,  General  McClellan  commenced  a  new 
campaign  against  Richmond. 

Never  was  there  a  more  cheerless  march ;  and 
though  continued  from  three  o'clock  in  the  after 
noon  until  midnight,  so  dark  was  the  night,  and 
so  incessant  the  rain,  and  so  slow  the  progress, 
that  when  we  halted,  the  brigade  had  only  made 
six  miles, — not  half  the  intended  distance.  Ber 
lin,  the  destination  of  the  tirst  day's  march,  was 
not  reached  until  the  28th.  It  was  an  inauspi 
cious  beginning,  and  proved  prophetic  of  the 
whole  movement.  Two  days  later,  the  army 
crossed  the  Potomac  into  Virginia.  Passing 
through  Lovettsville,  Bloomfield,  and  Salern, 
Ricketts's  Division  bivouacked  at  Warrenton  on 
the  6th  of  November. 
(152) 


FEELING  AMONG  THE  TROOPS.       153 

The  ground  was  covered  with  snow,  and  a 
frosty  chilliness  dwelt  in  the  air.  But  it  was  not 
the  winter  storm,  with  its  moaning  winds,  and 
sleet  -and  snow,  that  so  depressed  the  spirits  of 
the  troops.  It  was  the  order,  read  to  the  several 
corps,  dismissing  General  McClellan  from  the 
chief  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  that 
filled  all  hearts  with  sorrow. 

Long  after  the  patience  of  the  country  was  ex 
hausted  by  his  hesitancy  and  want  of  decision, 
the  army  still  confided  in  their  favorite  general. 
The  rank  and  file  beheld  McClellan  only  in 
the  favorable  light  in  which  he  first  appeared 
among  them, — as  the  organizer  of  the  volunteer 
masses  of  the  nation  into  splendid  corps  and 
divisions  of  well-trained  soldiers.  And  when 
the  ranks  of  that  army  were  broken,  and  almost 
ruined  by  defeat  and  disaster,  they  remembered 
him  as  gathering  up  the  fragments,  reorganizing 
them,  and  marching  through  the  victories  of 
South  Mountain  and  Antietam. 

It  would  be  to  insult  the  common  sense  of  our 
citizen  soldiers,  to  say  they  did  not  see  that  some 
one  was  to  blame  for  delays  and  defeats.  Why 
the  Peninsular  campaign  was  such  a  fearful  fail 
ure;  why  the  battle  of  Antietam  was  not  renewed 
on  Thursday;  why  days  and  weeks,  so  favorable 
for  military  operations,  were  not  afterward  im 
proved,  were  questions  fully  discussed.  But  with 
wonderful  unanimity,  all  agreed  in  placing  the 


154  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

blame  anywhere  else  than  on  the  chief  com 
mander.  The  authorities  at  Washington  were 
charged  with  interfering  with  his  plans  and  pur 
poses;  with  withholding  reinforcements  and  sup 
plies;  and  when  delays  ensued,  or  defeat  came, 
the  whole  blame  was  thrown  upon  the  shoulders 
of  others. 

In  a  record  of  the  lights  and  shadows  of  army 
life,  the  removal  of  McClellan  must  be  set  down 
as  one  of  the  shadows.  The  appointment  of  his 
successor  was  a  wise  though  unintentional  stroke 
of  policy.  Next  to  McClellan,  General  Burnside 
had  the  confidence  and  affection  of  the  troops ; 
and  for  the  peace  of  the  army  there  was  more 
than  happy  chance  in  that  selection. 

The  Confederate  army  was  concentrated  at 
Culpeper,  with  a  strong  rear-guard  in  the  Shen- 
andoah  Valley.  Abandoning  the  plans  of  his 
predecessor,  who  intended  to  march  to  Gordons- 
ville,  General  Burnside  proposed,  by  a  sudden 
move,  to  throw  his  whole  army  on  Falmouth, 
then  cross  the  Rappahannock,  take  possession  of 
the  hights  of  Fredericksburg,  and  compel  Lee 
either  to  attack  him  in  that  strong  position,  or 
fall  back  toward  Richmond. 

The  plans  of  the  new  commander  were  inau 
gurated  on  the  morning  of  November  8th  by 
detaching  Taylor's  Brigade  from  the  rest  of  the 
division,  and  sending  it  as  a  support  to  Bayard's 
cavalry,  doing  picket  duty  on  the  Rappahanuock 


BURNSIDE'S  CAMPAIGN  BEGUN.  155 

from  Beverly  ford  to  Kelly's  mills.  Regimental 
headquarters  were  established  near  Rappahan- 
nock  Station.  Across  the  narrow  stream  was 
HartauiFs  knoll. 

If  the  boys  of  the  Eleventh  had  an  earnest 
desire  to  cross  over  and  drive  away  the  rebel 
pickets  by  which  the  knoll  was  guarded, — a  de 
sire  they  executed  in  gallant  style  one  clear, 
frosty  morning,  capturing  the  entire  camp  equip 
ments  and  the  half-cooked  breakfast  of  the  ab 
sconding  enemy, — it  was  because  the  scene  of 
one  of  their  early  contests  stirred  anew  the 
courage  that  held  it,  on  the  21st  of  August, 
against  such  unequal  numbers. 

While  the  Eleventh  was  thus  employed,  taking 
care  of  the  bridge  and  river  fordings,  the  main 
army  was  moving  on  to  Falmouth.  Pieasantorrs 
cavalry  relieved  the  infantry  on  the  evening  of 
the  18th,  and  setting  fire  to  the  railroad  bridge, — 
rebuilt  by  the  rebels  since  its  destruction  in  Au 
gust, — we  rejoined  the  division  at  Stafford  Court 
House. 

Before  the  army  left  Warrenton,  General  Hal- 
leek  and  General  Meigs  were  in  consultation 
with  Burn  side.  The  Orange  and  Alexandria 
Railroad  was  to  be  given  up,  and  the  troops 
supplied  by  way  of  the  Potomac;  the  Aquia 
Creek  landing  was  to  be  repaired,  and  pontoon 
bridges,  on  which  to  cross  the  river  at  Freder- 
icksburg,  at  once  sent  forward.  These  were 


156  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

essential  parts  of  Burnside's  plans;  and  to  facili 
tate  these  movements,  a  picked  force  of  cavalry 
under  the  gallant  Captain  Dahlgren,  cleared  the 
railroad  from  Aquia  Creek  to  the  Rappahannock 
of  all  the  enemy's  pickets. 

But  when  the  army  reached  Falmouth  neither 
was  the  wharf  at  Aquia  repaired,  nor  were  the 
pontoons  where  Burnside  expected  to  find  them. 
The  Rappahannock  was  too  high  to  be  forded, 
and  for  want  of  the  bridges,  the  occupation  of 
Fredericksburg  was  defeated.  One  day  later, 
the  enemy  left  at  Culpeper  was  seen  covering 
the  opposite  hights,  and  confronting  us  with 
bayonet  and  cannon  on  the  south  bank  of  the 
river. 

Burnside's  force  was  composed  of  three  Grand 
Divisions,  commanded  respectively  by  Sumner 
on  the  right,  Hooker  in  the  center,  and  Franklin 
on  the  left.  It  was  the  9th  of  December  before 
the  several  Grand  Divisions  moved  forward  into 
position  along  the  Rappahannock.  The  purpose 
of  the  Federal  commander  to  attempt  a  crossing 
of  the  river  was  surmised  by  the  enemy,  and 
those  Fredericksburg  hights,  formidable  enough 
in  themselves,  were  terraced  from  bottom  to  top 
with  rifle  pits,  and  crowned  with  bastions.  A 
feint  was  made,  as  though  the  crossing  would  be 
effected  at  Port  Conway,  twenty  miles  below, 
and  a  large  force  of  the  rebels  had  marched  in 
that  direction.  The  object  of  Burnside  was  now 


ARMY    ON    THE    RAPPAHANNOCK.  157 

to  cross  immediately  in  front,  and  throw  his 
whole  united  army  against  the  divided  army  of 
the  enemy. 

General  Ricketts  had  retired  from  the  com 
mand  of  the  division,  and  was  succeeded  by 
General  Gibbons.  Gibbons's  Division  was  at 
tached  to  Reynolds's  Corps  of  Franklin's  Grand 
Division,  the  other  divisions  of  corps  being  those 
of  General  Meade  and  General  Doubleday.  In 
the  order  of  the  battle,  Franklin's  Grand  Divi 
sion  was  to  cross  four  miles  below  the  city,  and 
that  of  Surnner  directly  opposite  Fredericksburg, 
while  the  center  division  of  General  Hooker  re 
mained  in  reserve. 

Five  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  December  llth, 
leaving  our  camp  near  White  Oak  Chapel,  the 
Eleventh  Regiment  marched  toward  the  river. 
The  moon  was  high  in  the  heavens,  casting  a 
calm,  clear  light  on  all  beneath,  while  the  air  of 
the  early  morning  was  just  cool  enough  to  make 
the  brisk  walk  at  which  the  men  started  off  im 
part  a  gentle  warmth  to  the  blood. 

Passing  through  the  several  regiments  formed 
in  line,  and  waiting  to  fall  in  behind  us,  a  group 
of  officers  were  gathered  around  their  colonel, 
who  was  addressing  his  men  : 

"Keep  your  .eye  on  the  flag.  If  the  shot  and 
shell  of  the  enemy  break  your  ranks,  let  that  be 
the  rallying  point.  Don't  crowd  together.  Give 
room  for  the  balls  to  pass  between  you ;  but 

14 


158  STORY   OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

always  rally  on  the  flag.  There  will  be  hard 
fighting  to-day,  and  every  man  must  do  his  duty. 
Do  your  duty,  and  a  grateful  country  will  never 
forget  you." 

The  hour, — the  foreshadowings  of  the  day, — 
the  full  tones  of  the  orator,  were  all  impressive ; 
and  the  good,  round  cheers  that  followed  told 
that  the  speaker  had  an  appreciative  audience. 

At  daylight  the  troops  rested  on  the  hills  above 
the  river.  The  bridges  on  which  the  Left  Grand 
Division  was  to  cross  were  laid  at  the  mouth  of 
Pollock's  Creek,  and  with  little  opposition.  But 
Franklin  was  not  to  pass  over  until  Simmer's 
bridges  were  completed.  The  opposition  to  Sum- 
ner  was  fierce  and  decided.  Sharp-shooters,  con 
cealed  in  the  houses  along  the  river,  picked  off 
the  bridge-builders  with  deadly  certainty.  Sev 
eral  of  our  batteries  fired  occasional  shots  into 
the  city,  but  with  what  effect  could  not  be  told 
for  the  dense  fog  that  enveloped  it.  We  knew 
that  the  sharp-shooters  had  not  been  driven  from 
their  hiding-places,  for  every  attempt  to  complete 
the  pontoons  drew  forth  a  vigorous  and  fatal  fire. 

The  plain  on  which  Fredericksburg  stands  is 
completely  commanded  by  the  hills  of  Stafford. 
Toward  noon,  the  fog  having  rolled  away,  and 
the  bridges  still  remaining  unfinished,  the  order 
was  given  10  concentrate  the  fire  of  all  our  bat 
teries  on  the  citv.  Riding  a  short  distance  through 

\j  O  O 

the  woods  from  where  the  regiment  rested,  we 


BOMBARDMENT    OF    FREDERICKSBURG.         159 

were  at  a  point  affording  a  full  view  of  Fred- 
ericksburg,  and  the  position  of  many  of  our  guns. 
Already  the  town  was  on  fire  in  several  places, 
and  the  flames  of  the  burning  buildings  mingled 
with  the  white  smoke  of  the  bursting  shells. 

One  could  not  look  upon  an  exhibition  of  war 
so  sublime  in  its  terrors  without  conflicting  emo 
tions.  "When  all  the  time-honored  associations 
belonging  to  Fredericksburg  were  remembered, — 
that  a  large  part  of  the  youth  of  WASHINGTON  was 
spent  there, — that  for  years  it  was  the  home  of  his 
mother,  and  her  hist  earthly  resting-place, — we 
could  wish  such  a  fate  had  not  overtaken  the  old 
town.  But  when  we  reflected  that  sacred  mem 
ories  and  associations  were  no  longer  regarded  by 
those  who  lived  among  them,  and  that  the  glo 
rious  past  was  forgotten  in  the  bitterness  of  the 
present,  there  was  a  subdued  feeling  of  satisfac 
tion  as  the  angry  flames,  approaching  from  differ 
ent  directions,  threatened  to  leave  the  doomed 
city  a  mass  of  ruins. 

One  of  our  batteries  on  the  left  had  thrown 
several  shot  at  a  large  house  standing  near  the 
river,  and  from  which  could  be  seen  issuing  the 
smoke  of  the  rebel  picket,  as  in  his  concealment 
he  fired  upon  our  unprotected  men.  The  chim 
neys  were  knocked  away,  and  a  solid  shot  had 
broken  through  the  roof.  But  every  few  minutes 
a  wreath  of  white  smoke,  curling  up  from  door 
or  windows,  indicated  the  presence  of  the  persist- 


100  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

ent  Southerner.  The  four  guns  of  the  battery 
were  depressed  to  range  with  the  windows  in 
the  lower  story  of  the  building.  When  the 
smoke  of  that  last  discharge  cleared  away,  the 
front  wall  had  fallen  out,  and  carrying  down  the 
roof  with  it,  crushed  to  death  every  living  thing 
within. 

In  the  midst  of  this  furious  bombardment,  at 
tempts  were  made  to  complete  the  bridges.  But 
each  effort  was  ineffectual.  Despite  all  the  artil 
lery  firing,  the  enemy  lay  concealed  on  the  oppo 
site  shore.  Impatient  at  the  delay,  and  aroused 
to  deeds  of  daring  by  the  daring  of  the  enemy, 
the  Seventh  Michigan,  under  command  of  Lieu 
tenant-Colonel  Baxter,  volunteered  to  cross  in 
boats,  and  drive  away  the  sharp-shooters.  It  was 
an  act  nobly  done.  Rushing  down  the  river 
bank,  and  filling  the  pontoons,  the  brave  fellows 
pushed  out  into  the  river.  More  rapid  than  ever 
came  the  whistling  bullets  from  the  south  shore  ; 
more  vigorous  than  ever  they  pulled  at  the  oars. 
As  the  boats  touched  the  beach  the  men  leaped 
forward  with  a  shout,  and  forth  from  their  hiding- 
places  started  the  lurking  foe.  But  swift  of  foot 
though  they  were,  swifter  were  the  musket  balls 
of  those  sons  of  Michigan  that  struck  a  score  and 
more  of  them  to  the  earth,  dead  or  dying. 

Ten  thousand  spectators  beheld  the  valiant 
feat ;  and  as  boat  after  boat  landed  its  crew,  wild 
huzzahs  filled  the  air.  Half  an  hour  later  Sum- 


ACROSS    THE    RAPPAHANNOCK.  161 

ner's  bridges  were  completed;  and  from  right  to 
left  the  army  was  preparing  to  cross  the  Rappa- 
hannock. 


CHAPTER  II. 

BATTLE    OF    FREDERICKSBURG. 

A  FEW  troops  on  the  left  crossed  the  river 
Thursday  evening,  hut  not  until  the  morning  of 
the  12th  did  the  entire  force  move  to  the  south 
side.  A  dense  fog  covered  hill  and  plain.  The 
same  ominous  silence  observed  by  the  rebels 
during  the  bombardment  of  Fredericksburg  was 
maintained.  Their  pickets  slowly  retired  before 
our  advance,  and  Franklin's  Division  crossed  the 
bridges  without  drawing  from  the  enemy  more 
than  a  single  shot. 

There  was  no  longer  any  break  in  the  rebel 
line.  The  troops  that  marched  to  Port  Conway, 
in  anticipation  that  the  Federal  army  would  there 
cross,  at  the  discharge  of  the  first  gun  on  Thurs 
day  morning,  hastened  back;  and  now  from  Ma- 
rye's  Rights,  at  Fredericksburg,  to  Massaponax 
Creek  below,  the  Corps  of  Longstreet  and  Jack 
son  were  in  well-chosen  positions. 

Running  through  the  plain  on  which  Frank 
lin's  troops  formed  their  ranks,  and  in  a  line  par- 

14* 


162  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

allel  with  the  river,  is  the  Fredericksburg  and 
Richmond  Railroad.  The  railroad  crossing  of  the 
Massaponax  was  the  extreme  right  of  the  rebel 
line,  held  by  Stuart's  cavalry  and  a  battery  of 
three  or  four  guns.  2s"ext  came  the  Divisions  of 
A.  P.  Hill  and  General  Early,  with  D.  H.  Hill's 
Division  in  reserve,  forming  Jackson's  Corps. 
These  troops  occupied  the  low  hills  in  our  imme 
diate  front,  and  were  joined  on  the  left  by  Hood's 
Division  of  Longstreet's  Corps. 

Reynolds's  Corps,  occupying  the  extreme  left 
of  the  Union  line,  was  formed  with  Meade's 
Division  on  the  left,  Gibbons's  on  the  right,  and 
Doubleday  in  reserve.  Gibbons's  Division  was 
in  three  lines  of  battle — Taylor's  Brigade  in  the 
first  line,  Colonel  Lyle  in  the  second,  and  Colonel 
Root  in  the  third  line. 

Thursday  was  spent  in  laying  the  bridges,  and 
Friday  in  crossing  the  troops  and  placing  them 
in  position.  If  that  marching  and  countermarch 
ing  of  brigades  and  divisions  had  been  prepara 
tions  for  a  grand  review,  the  enemy  could  not 
have  observed  it  with  less  apparent  concern. 
When  the  day  closed,  the  pickets  of  Taylor's 
Brigade  were  across  the  Bowling  Green  road. 
Excepting  here  and  there  a  solitary  sentinel, 
scarcely  a  Southern  soldier  was  to  be  seen ;  but 
throughout  the  night  could  be  heard  the  hum 
of  voices,  and  the  falling  of  trees,  and  the  dull 
rumbling  of  moving  artillery.  A  few  indulged 


NIGHT    BEFORE    THE    BATTLE.  163 

the  hope  that  the  enemy  would  quietly  slip  away, 
leaving  us  in  possession  of  the  coveted  bights, 
while  others,  again,  argued  little  good  of  his 
sullen  reticence. 

They  were  veteran  troops  that  composed  the 
Left  Grand  Division,  and  in  view  of  the  coming 
morrow,  each  man,  hugging  close  his  musket, 
was  soon  seeking  rest  for  the  present  and  endu 
rance  for  the  future  in  such  sleep  as  only  comes 
to  the  tired  soldier. 

The  Eleventh  had  not  greatly  filled  up  its  ranks 
since  the  battle  of  Antietam.  A  few  of  the 
wounded  had  returned  to  duty ;  but  altogether 
we  only  numbered  on  hundred  and  eighty  officers 
and  men.  Colonel  Frink  and  Major  Keenan  were 
in  hospital.  Adjutant  Uncapher  had  lately  re 
signed.  Doctor  Jackson  was  absent  on  detached 
service.  Doctor  An  await  had  been  promoted  to 
surgeon,  and  was  transferred  to  the  132d  Regi 
ment  Pennsylvania  Volunteers.  Doctors  Phelps 
and  Morris  were  at  the  hospital  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  river;  leaving  the  chaplain  the  sole 
representative  of  the  colonel's  staff  present  that 
night  before  the  battle. 

Saturday  morning,  December  13th,  was  like 
the  several  mornings  that  had  preceded  it.  A 
thick  haze  enveloped  the  entire  plain,  and  hung 
before  the  army  like  an  impenetrable  veil.  Even 
our  own  pickets,  though  only  a  few  yards  in  ad 
vance  of  the  battle-line,  were  hid  from  view  by 


164  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

the  fog.  Toward  ten  o'clock,  the  rays  of  the  sun 
beginning  to  part  the  heavy  curtains,  the  lines 
of  Reynolds's  Corps,  from  right  to  left,  were  or 
dered  to  move  forward.  Scarcely  quarter  of  an 
hour  later,  there  was  an  irregular  and  scattering 
exchange  of  picket  shots.  Then  came  a  volley 
of  musketry,  sharp  and  compact,  and  the  battle 
had  begun  in  fearful  earnest. 

Those  quiet  hills,  no  longer  concealed  by  the 
fog,  were  seen  to  be  filled  with  cannon,  enfilading 
every  foot  of  the  plain ;  while  from  behind  the 
railroad  embankment,  and  from  the  woods  be 
yond,  the  double  lines  of  rebel  infantry  dis 
charged  their  rifles  in  the  face  of  our  advancing 
columns.  The  enemy  had  now  revealed  himself, 
and  firing  over  the  heads  of  our  own  men,  who 
were  ordered  to  lay  close  to  the  ground,  a  hun 
dred  cannon  from  Stafford  hights  were  turned 
upon  those  woods  and  hills. 

An  hour  of  such  work  as  made  the  very  earth 
to  shake,  and  filled  the  air  with  fiendish  sounds, 
was  followed  by  a  moment  of  quiet.  It  was  the 
signal  for  a  renewal  of  the  advance.  The  plain 
was  again  a  sheet  of  flame,  as  if  ten  thousand 
muskets  had  been  discharged  by  a  single  touch. 
Again  those  reticent  woods  were  sending  forth 
sounds  of  death.  But  the  Third  Brigade  moved 
steadily  forward,  followed  by  the  Second  and  the 
First,  within  a  few  yards  of  the  railroad. 

The  Eleventh  was  on  the  extreme  left  of  the 


OPERATIONS    OX    THE    LEFT.  165 

first  line,  and  moving  obliquely  toward  the  rail 
road,  encountered  the  concentrated  fire  of  the 
enemy.  Three  times  had  the  flag  been  shot  down, 
carrying  with  it  at  each  prostration  the  brave 
heart  that  bore  it  aloft.  But  only  for  a  moment 
was  it  suffered  to  trail  in  the  dust.  Others  were 
there  to  venture  limb  and  life  in  maintaining  it 
erect  in  si«;htof  the  foe.  Before  the  railroad  was 

O 

reached  eight  of  the  regiment  killed  and  seventy- 
three  wounded,  including  the  colonel  and  five 

O 

other  officers,  marked  the  ground  over  which  we 
had  passed. 

Through  the  ranks  of  the  Third  Brigade  came 
Colonel  Lyle,  at  the  head  of  the  Second  Brigade, 
charging  against  the  weakened  line  of  the  enemy 
across  the  railroad,  and  into  the  woods  in  front; 
while  the  First  Brigade,  further  to  the  right, 
making  a  similar  move,  penetrated  the  enemy's 
line,  capturing  two  hundred  prisoners.  The 
Pennsylvania  Reserves,  on  the  left  of  Gibbous's 
Division,  were  equally  successful  in  breaking 
through  the  lines  of  A.  P.  Hill,  and  throwing 
them  back  on  those  of  Early.  Reinforcements 
were  needed  to  hold  the  advantage  we  had  gained, 
and  to  press  the  yielding  rebels  still  more  furi 
ously.  But  reinforcements  did  not  come.  The 
enemy  was  quick  to  see  the  delay;  and  massing 
his  forces  at  the  threatened  point,  compelled  us 
to  abandon  the  ground  so  dearly  bought,  and 
that  we  ought  to  have  held  secure. 


166  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

It  was  late  in  the  afternoon;  and  falling  back 
across  the  Bowling  Green  road,  the  Eleventh 
took  a  position  near  the  bivouac  of  the  previous 
evening.  Darkness  ended  the  strife,  and  hill  and 
plain,  so  recently  thundering  with  artillery,  and 
rattling  with  the  sound  of  exploding  muskets, 
were  wrapt  in  the  silence  of  night. 

On  the  north  side  of  the  river,  occupying  Pol 
lock's  mansion,  was  the  hospital  of  Gibbons's 
Division.  The  large  tents  that  were  pitched  on 
the  lawn  in  rear  of  the  house,  and  reserved  for 
serious  cases,  were  soon  crowded.  But  a  kind 
Providence  cared  for  all.  Thick  matted  grass 
covered  the  ground,  and  the  mildness  of  summer 
was  breathed  into  the  air  of  December. 

At  no  previous  battle  had  there  been  such  per 
fect  system  introduced  into  the  hospital.  A  part 
of  the  surgeons  were  detailed  for  the  operating 
rooms,  while  to  the  others  were  given  the  care  of 
the  wounded  in  the  tents  and  out  on  the  lawn. 
All  kinds  of  supplies  of  medicines  and  rations 
were  in  desired  abundance;  and  if  the  percentage 
of  deaths  among  the  wounded  of  the  division 
was  smaller  than  it  had  ever  been,  the  reason 
was  to  be  found  in  the  character  of  the  treatment 
they  received. 

To  the  chaplain  of  the  Eleventh  was  assigned 
the  duty  of  keeping  a  general  record  of  the 
deaths,  and  burying  the  dead.  A  spot  of  ground 
near  the  house  was  made  sacred  as  the  cemetery 


BURYING    THE    DEAD.  167 

of  our  companions ;  and  with  all  the  care  and 
skill  displayed  by  the  surgeons,  the  performance 
of  our  solemn  duty  was  painfully  frequent. 

"Dig  deep,  boys,"  said  the  corporal  in  charge 
of  the  grave  diggers.  "  The  old  man  that  owns 
this  ground  won't  have  much  respect  for  these 
graves  after  we  leave.  He  may  level  them  down, 
but  we'll  show  him  that  he  caa't  reach  the 
bodies." 

If  daylight  of  Sunday  morning  seemed  to 
come  too  soon,  it  was  because  each  one  antici 
pated  a  renewal  of  the  desperate  work  of  Satur 
day.  During  the  night,  Gibbons's  Division 
moved  a  mile  further  to  the  left,  forming  in  the 
rear  of  General  Doubleday.  The  same  hazy 
cloud  of  yesterday  hung  over  the  plain,  limiting 
the  view  to  a  few  yards  on  either  side.  As  the 
morning  advanced,  the  boundaries  of  vision  en 
larged,  until  hill  and  plain  were  again  in  full 
sight.  Xo  change  was  to  be  seen,  except  here 
and  there  a  tree,  denuded  of  its  top  branches,  or 
shivered  in  trunk  and  limb  as  if  struck  by  a 
thunder-bolt,  caught  -the  eye.  The  enemy  had 
relapsed  into  his  former  silence;  and  though 
once  or  twice  during  the  day  the  lines  were 
formed  for  an  advance,  none  was  made. 

Rumors  began  to  reach  us  of  a  disastrous  re 
pulse  on  the  right.  Simmer's  Corps,  that  was 
only  to  hold  the  enemy  in  check,  while  Franklin, 
supported  by  Hooker,  endeavored  to  turn  his 


168  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

right,  had  attempted  to  carry  Marye's  Rights, 
and  utterly  failed. 

The  quiet  of  Sunday  was  continued  through 
out  Monday.  The  Eleventh,  under  command  of 
Captain  Kuhn,  was  detailed  for  picket  duty  on 
the  extreme  left  of  the  line.  Three  o'clock 
Tuesday  morning  the  order  was  given  to  retire 
toward  the  pontoon  bridges ;  and  by  daylight  of 
the  16th  all  the  troops  had  crossed  to  the  north 
bank  of  the  river. 


CHAPTER   III. 

AFTER  THE  BATTLE  OF  FREDERICKSBURG. 

"  HOSPITAL  OF  SECOND  DIVISION, 
"Pollock's  House,  Dec.  18,  1862. 

"  CHAPLAIN  WILLIAM  H.  LOCKE,  of  the  Eleventh 
Pennsylvania  Regiment,  is  hereby  detailed  to 
proceed  to  Washington  with  the  wounded  of 
Gibbons's  Division,  Reynolds's  Corps,  Frank 
lin's  Left  Grand  Division. 

"CHAS.  J.  XORDQUIST,  £ 'urg 'eon-in-  Chief '." 

Winding  round  the  base  of  Stafford  hights, 
the  long  line  of  ambulances  at  last  drew  up  at 
the  railroad  station.  A  train  of  cars  was  in  wait 
ing  to  convey  us  to  Aquia  Creek  landing.  From 


WOUNDED    IN    WASHINGTON.  169 

thence  to  Washington  the  transportation  was  by 
boat;  and  as  our  corning  was  expected,  the  cabin 
floors  of  the  steamer  had  been  covered  with  beds 
for  the  reception  of  the  wounded.  In  many 
cases  the  bed  was  only  a  truss  of  hay ;  but  it  was 
a  softer  couch  than  usually  invited  the  wounded 
soldier  to  repose.  The  transfer  of  six  hundred 
men  from  the  cars  to  the  boat  occupied  us  until 
after  midnight,  and  delayed  our  arrival  in  Wash 
ington  until  the  next  day.  Surgeon-General 
Hammond,  and  a  corps  of  assistants,  were  at  the 
wharf,  to  whom  we  turned  over  our  responsible 
charge. 

The  War  Department  had  refused  passes  to 
civilians  to  visit  the  front  since  the  battle;  and 
the  arrival  of  the  steamer  was  awaited  by  many 
anxious  friends.  How  each  stretcher  that  passed 
over  the  gangway,  bearing  a  bruised  and  muti 
lated  form,  was  closely  scanned!  Again  and 
again  the  earnest  glance  turned  away  in  dis 
appointment.  But  the  looking  was  not  all  in 
vain.  In  one  case  the  recognition  between  a 
gray-haired  father  and  the  son  who  had  left  his 
arm  in  front  of  Fredericksburg,  was  so  full  of 
affection  as  to  impart  a  joy  to  every  beholder. 

Washington  was  in  a  state  of  intense  excite 
ment.  Every  one  demanded  to  know  who  was 
responsible  for  the  move  across  the  Rappahan- 
nock;  and,  as  usual,  every  one  placed  the  blame 

15 


170  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

on  the  Commander-in-Chief  or  the  Secretary  of 
War.  Said  a  prominent  official: 

"The  nation  is  tired  of  the  rule  of  these  igno 
rant  pretenders;  men  who  have  never  seen  a 
battle,  and  yet  undertake  to  lead  an  army  sixty 
miles  distant,  by  the  click  of  the  telegraph." 

Returning  to  camp  a  day  later,  the  same  spirit 
of  discontent  manifested  itself.  Ten  thousand 
men  had  been  killed  and  wounded,  and  yet  no 
thing  was  accomplished,  not  even  a  cannon  or  a 
battle-flag  taken  from  the  enemy. 

With  characteristic  magnanimity,  General 
Burn  side  assumed  the  entire  responsibility  of 
the  attack  on  Fredericksburg.  But  every  drum 
mer-boy  connected  with  the  army  knew  of  the 
disappointments  to  which  the  general  had  been 
subjected,  and  of  the  criminal  neglect  of  those 
to  whom  important  parts  of  the  undertaking 
had  been  intrusted.  It  was  also  painfully  ap 
parent  that  there  was  great  want  of  hearty 
co-operation  on  the  part  of  leading  generals, 
amounting  to  positive  disobedience  of  plain  and 
explicit  orders. 

Franklin  was  to  attack  on  the  left,  as  that  was 
the  salient  point,  with  his  largest  corps,  and  then 
to  follow  up  with  prompt  and  heavy  supports. 
Sumner  was  to  threaten  Longstreet  on  the  right, 
and  thus  prevent  him  from  reinforcing  Jackson. 
If  the  orders  had  been  reversed,  they  would  have 
been  carried  out  to  the  letter.  It  was  Sumner 


CAMP    NEAR    FLETCHER    CHAPEL.  171 

that  made  the  vigorous  assault,  throwing  his 
whole  Grand  Division  against  those  unyielding 
hights,  and  filling  the  streets  of  Fredericksburg 
with  his  dead;  while  Franklin,  attacking  with 
his  smallest  corps,  left  it  to  accomplish  its  won 
ders  of  valor  without  reinforcements,  and  without 
proper  supports. 

Moving  back  from  the  river,  the  line  of  de 
fense  occupied  by  the  Federal  army  extended 
from  Hartwood  church  on  the  right,  to  King 
George  County  on  the  left.  On  the  Northern 
Xeck,  midway  between  Potomac  Creek  and  the 
Rappahannock,  lay  Reynolds's  Corps.  The  camp 
of  the  Eleventh  was  near  Fletcher  chapel,  an 
unpretending  frame  building,  thirty  feet  long 
and  forty  wide.  The  disproportion  in  its  width 
was  owing  to  an  addition  to  one  side  of  the  main 
edifice,  an  afterthought,  wre  were  told,  for  the  ac 
commodation  of  the  colored  people,  as  the  church 
was  without  the  gallery  usually  appropriated  to 
their  use. 

The  contour  of  this  section  of  the  Northern 
Xeck  is  peculiar, — a  succession  of  sharply  de 
fined  ridges  and  deep  ravines.  Getting  to  the 
leeward  of  one  of  these  ridges,  the  quarters  of 
the  men  were  constructed  along  the  sloping  side, 
while  the  top  of  the  ridge  was  crowned  with  the 
several  tents  that  made  up  headquarters.  There 
was  no  formal  announcement  that  the  army  would 
go  into  winter  quarters,  but  taking  it  for  granted 


172  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

that  active  movements  were  at  an  end,  the  men 
made  themselves  comfortable  to  the  extent  of 
their  ability.  Excavating  some  eight  or  ten  feet 
in  length  and  breadth  by  three  feet  deep,  the  dirt 
was  thrown  up  at  the  sides,  on  which  a  frame 
work  of  logs  was  placed.  Using  the  shelter  tents 
for  a  roof,  an  apartment  was  thus  constructed 
large  enough  for  five  or  six  persons  to  live  in. 
A  fire-place,  made  through  one  of  the  sides,  with 
an  old  barrel  for  a  chimney,  completed  the  heat 
ing  apparatus,  in  perfect  keeping  with  the  prim 
itive  style  of  the  domicile. 

DECEMBER  31. — In  two  hours  the  year  1862 
will  be  dead.  Personally,  we  must  speak  well  of 
the  dying.  His  daily  visits  have  been  full  of 
blessings.  In  camp,  on  the  march,  and  on  the 
field,  a  kindly  hand  has  been  over  us.  Nation 
ally,  the  old  year  has  been  one  of  disappoint 
ment.  The  rebellion,  dark  and  terrible,  that 
1861  brought  upon  the  country,  we  were  led  to 
hope  1862  would  surely  end.  But  it  still  rages. 
The  hungry  spirit  of  war,  though  devouring 
tens  of  thousands,  cries  for  more.  After  twenty 
months  of  varied  fortunes,  the  enemy  is  proud 
and  defiant  as  ever. 

JANUARY  1,  1863. — The  winds  that  went  moan 
ing  wildly  through  the  live-Long  night  the  re 
quiem  of  the  dying  year,  have  gone  to  sleep. 
]STot  a  cloud  is  in  the  sky,  while  the  warm  sun, 
now  shining  out  brightly  on  camp  and  field, 


NOTES    FROM    DIARY.  173 

drives  away  the  frosty  breath  of  winter.  Auspi 
cious  beginning  of  the  Xcw  Year.  May  it  fore 
shadow  to  the  Xation  the  coming  of  its  glorious 
summer!  Lieutenant-Colonel  Frink,  who  has 
been  absent  since  the  Bull  Run  battle,  arrived 
in  camp  to-day  and  took  command  of  the  regi 
ment. 

JANUARY  3. — Reveille  at  6  o'clock  A.M.;  break 
fast  at  7;  dinner  at  12 ;  supper  at  5  P.M.;  tattoo  at 
9,  with  drills,  guard  duty,  and  dress  parade, 
make  up  the  routine  of  camp  life,  day  after  day. 
But  this  dull  monotony  does  not  extend  to  the 
world  without.  The  President  has  issued  his 
Emancipation  Proclamation,  and  the  slaves  in  all 
the  States  and  parts  of  the  States  now  in  rebel 
lion  are  declared  forever  free.  "Events,  not 
hours,  are  the  measure  of  progress." 

JANUARY  7. — The  breaking  out  afresh  of  the 
old  wound  has  compelled  Colonel  Frink  to  re 
turn  home.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Batchelder,  of 
the  Thirteenth  Massachusetts,  is  assigned  by 
General  Taylor  to  the  command  of  the  Eleventh. 

JANUARY  10. — There  was  a  wedding  at  Belle 
Plain  Landing  this  afternoon.  Too  late  to  wit 
ness  the  ceremony,  we  spent  the  time  that  the 
boat  was  getting  ready  to  leave  for  Washington 
in  a  familiar  chat  with  the  bride  and  groom.  It 
was  the  same  old  story  over  again.  They  were 
both  natives  of  Stafford  County.  The  groom 
had  enlisted  at  an  early  stage  of  the  war  in  one 
15* 


174  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

of  the  Virginia  regiments.  He  was  with  John 
son  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  and  at  the  first 
battle  of  Bull  Run,  and  latterly  in  ^"orth  Caro 
lina.  But  a  pair  of  handsome  eyes  were  ever  in 
his  memory,  haunting  him  in  camp,  or  bivouac, 
or.  battle.  One  dark  night,  while  doing  picket 
duty  on  the  Edisto,  so  deep  a  yearning  came  over 
him,  that  deserting  the  picket  post,  and  braving 
the  dangers  of  many  long  and  wearisome  miles, 
he  started  for  Virginia.  After  various  fortunes 
and  hair-breadth  escapes  by  land  and  by  flood, 
the  deserter  arrived  in  Stafford  County  just  at  the 
moment  the  Federal  army  occupied  Falmouth, 
glad  to  find  himself  secure  within  the  Union 
lines.  Those  handsome  eyes  were  now  by  his 
side,  all  his  own.  One  of  our  chaplains  had  mar 
ried  him  and  them,  and  with  a  pass  to  Washing 
ton,  signed  by  General  Hooker,  he  and  his  wife, 
without  a  friend,  or  even  an  acquaintance,  but 
with  implicit  faith  in  each  other,  were  to  try 
their  fortunes  in  the  free  and  glorious  !S~orth. 

JANUARY  12. — Except  a  small  camp-guard,  the 
whole  regiment  is  out  on  picket.  Since  Stuart's 
cavalry  passed  around  the  right  of  the  army  as 
far  north  as  Dumfries,  picket  duty  on  the  left  has 
been  something  more  than  mere  name.  Three 
lines  extend  from  the  Potomac  to  the  Rappahan- 
nock,  two  of  cavalry  and  one  of  infantry.  The 
last  line  is  within  a  mile  of  our  quarters.  The 
rebels  make  nightly  visits  to  King  George  Court 


THE    VIRGINIA    SCHOOLMASTER.  175 

House,  and  there  is  a  lurking  suspicion  that  they 
contemplate  the  larger  game  of  falling  upon  our 
camp  or  of  attacking  Belle  Plain  Landing,  from 
whence  the  Left  Grand  Division  draws  its  sup 
plies. 

On  our  way  back  from  the  outer  picket  line, 
whither  we  had  gone  in  compan}T  with  the  divi 
sion  officer  of  the  day,  we  came  up  with  a  citi 
zen  of  the  Old  Dominion,  clothed  in  regular 
homespun  of  the  most  approved  butter-nut  color. 
We  found  him  ready  to  converse,  and  so,  by  our 
questions,  led  the  way.  We  talked  about  his 
farm,  whose  boundaries  were  pointed  out  as 
marked  by  a  "wattle  fence,"  inclosing  three 
acres,  strict  measure.  Corn  and  potatoes  were 
named  as  its  principal  productions.  Two  cows 
supplied  the  family  with  milk  and  butter — when 
there  were  no  soldiers  about;  for  the  citizen  de 
clared  that  every  Yankee  could  milk  a  cow  as 
good  as  a  woman,  and  that  since  the  picket  line 
carne  so  near  him,  his  wife  was  saved  that 
trouble. 

The  house  was  a  frame  building,  of  single 
story  and  a  single  room,  with  door  and  window 
in  one.  And  yet  so  insidious  is  pride,  and 
withal  so  exacting,  that  even  there,  in  that  hum 
ble  dwelling,  it  demanded  a  place,  and  the  good 
man  complained  of  it. 

"  Times  aren't  now  as  they  were  when  I  was 
a  boy.  Then  we  spun  our  own  cloth,  and  made 


176  STORY   OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

our  own  clothes.  But  people  have  got  too  proud, 
sir;  they  won't  have  looms  in  their  houses  any 
more." 

The  result  was,  that  all  the  chickens  they  could 
raise,  and  the  geese,  and  turkeys,  and  ducks, 
were  sold  in  Frederickshurg  to  buy  clothes, 
which,  but  for  the  pride  of  this  later  generation, 
might  have  been  made  at  home.  After  he  had 
finished  enumerating  the  sources  of  his  income, 
the  Virginian  must  have  detected  the  thought  in 
our  mind, — certainly  it  did  not  find  expression, — 
that,  putting  all  together,  the  chances  for  a  living 
were  still  exceedingly  slim ;  for  he  added  that  he 
farmed  only  in  a  small  way.  He  was  a  school 
teacher,  and  had  been  such  for  thirteen  years. 
Here  then  was  a  real  pedagogue.  We  were 
misinformed.  They  did  have  that  useful  person 
in  Virginia,  and  we  stood  in  his  presence.  In 
deference  to  the  memory  of  other  days,  we  made 
a  low  bow,  and  expressed  ourselves  as  happy  at 
such  an  unexpected  meeting.  The  pedagogue 
went  on  to  say  that  his  stock  of  corn  and  po 
tatoes,  of  poultry  and  pork  was  considerably 
increased  by  the  useful  occupation  of  school 
teaching,  as  in  one  or  the  other  of  these  articles 
his  pupils  always  paid  their  tuition  fee.  It  was 
as  good  to  him  as  money,  he  said,  besides  making 
it  much  easier  for  people  who  want  to  "school" 
their  children  to  bear  the  expense, — an  out-crop 
ping  of  the  same  spirit  of  forgetfulness  of  self  for 


NORTHERN    CLAIM    ON    VIRGINIA.  177 

the  good  of  others,  that  everywhere  animates  the 
brotherhood  of  teachers. 

If  we  rode  on  toward  our  quarters,  thinking 
how  many  pounds  of  hacon,  or  how  many  pairs 
of  chickens,  or  bushels  of  potatoes  were  con 
cerned  in  the  education  of  the  Southern  chivalry, 
it  must  have  been  because  their  camp-fires,  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  beginning  to  show 
in  the  darkening  twilight,  called  our  thoughts  in 
that  direction. 

THURSDAY,  January  15. — Private  Charles  W. 
Adams,  of  Co.  B,  died  in  hospital  yesterday  morn 
ing  of  intermittent  fever.  The  funeral  was  at 
tended  this  afternoon  by  the  entire  regiment. 
We  buried  him  near  Fletcher  chapel,  in  a  pine 
grove,  secure  from  the  foot  of  the  heedless  in 
truder.  Almost  every  part  of  Virginia  has  be 
come  sacred  to  us  as  the  burial  place  of  our  com 
panions;  and  each  new  grave  is  as  an  another 
reason  why  the  Old  Dominion  must  not  be  given 
up.  Xot  only  her  battle-fields,  but  her  grave 
yards  and  highways  belong  to  the  North  as  the 
endeared  depositories  of  its  noblest  and  bravest 
sons. 


178  '  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

BURNSIDE    TO    CROSS    THE    RAPPAHANNOCK. 

FOR  two  weeks  Burnside  had  been  making 
preparations  for  a  second  crossing  of  the  Rappa- 
hannock.  Where  the  attempt  should  be  made 
was  difficult  to  decide,  and  required  a  careful 
survey  of  a  large  stretch  of  river  shore.  The 
lines  of  the  enemy  extended  twenty  miles  above 
Fredericksburg,  and  an  equal  distance  below, 
while  every  fording  of  the  Rappahannock  was 
defended  on  the  south  side  by  earth-works  and 
rifle-pits. 

A  point  below  the  city  was  thought  to  offer 
superior  advantages  for  such  a  move ;  and  fatigue 
parties  were  kept  at  work  day  and  night  con 
structing  roads  and  bridging  water-courses  and 
ravines.  But  as  far  down  as  Port  Royal,  the  op 
posite  shore  differed  little  in  formation  from  that 
in  our  immediate  front.  There  was  the  same 
terrace  of  hills,  and  the  same  broad  plain  over 
which  we  must  march,  promising,  in  case  of  at 
tack,  no  more  favorable  results  than  the  13th  of 
December. 

Above  the  city,  both  sides  of  the  river  were 
alike,  the  bluffs  running  down  to  the  water's 


TROOPS    IN    MOTION.  179 

edge,  and  forming  a  deep  gorge  for  the  bed  of  the 
stream.  The  south  bank  was  within  easy  cannon 
range,  and  a  crossing  once  effected,  the  carrying 
of  the  hights  could  be  made  by  assault,  where 
the  advantage  of  attack  or  defense  was  much 
more  nearly  equal.  United  States  Ford,  ten 
miles  above  Fredericksburg,  offered  the  best  fa 
cilities  for  laying  pontoon  bridges,  and  was  the 
place  selected  for  this  new  adventure.  Great 
secrecy  was  observed  in  all  the  movements;  and 
on  the  20th  of  January  the  Divisions  of  Franklin 
and  Hooker,  keeping  behind  the  Stafford  hills 
to  evade  the  rebel  look-outs,  were  marching  to 
the  designated  point. 

The  success  of  the  present  advance  depended 
entirely  upon  the  celerity  with  which  the  several 
departments  of  the  army  carried  out  the  duties 
assigned  them.  Five  bridges  were  to  be  laid, 
and  the  pontoons  must  not  be  a  moment  behind 
the  appointed  hour.  A  large  force  of  the  enemy 
was  at  Port  Royal,  and  the  crossing  must  be 
made  before  Lee  could  have  time  to  draw  in  his 
extended  lines.  Xothing  had  been  forgotten  by 
the  commanding  general.  The  road  over  which 
each  division  was  to  march,  where  it  would 
bivouac,  and  where  park  its  wagon  trains,  were 
all  marked  out. 

For  two  or  three  weeks  the  weather  had  been 
charming,  leaving  the  roads  in  excellent  condi 
tion  for  the  movement  of  troops.  But  the  men 


180  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

had  lost  all  their  wonted  enthusiasm.  A  mile 
from  camp,  the  order  of  General  Burnside,  an 
nouncing  that  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  was 
again  to  meet  the  enemy  was  read  to  each  regi 
ment.  The  spirited  words  of  the  address  did 
not  awaken  a  single  response.  A  moody  silence 
closed  the  mouths  of  officers  and  men. 

Those  were  dark  days  in  the  Army  of  the  Po 
tomac.  It  had  lost  confidence  in  itself,  and  in 
its  commander,  and  confidence  in  the  Cause  for 
which  it  had  endured  so  much.  Xot  only  private 
soldiers,  but  general  officers,  maligned  every  act 
of  the  government,  and  talked  of  compromise 
with  the  South  on  the  best  terms  that  could  be 
made.  Men  that  had  stood  in  their  places  on 
every  battle-field  of  the  Peninsula,  and  at  Bull 
Run  and  Antietam, — many  of  them  bearing  the 
marks  of  honorable  wounds, — were  now  desert 
ing  by  scores.  Private  letters,  received  from 
different  parts  of  the  North,  increased  the  feeling 
of  depression  by  their  desponding  tone,  or  en 
couraged  desertions  by  their  defiant  language. 

From  Western  Pennsylvania  one  wrote  :  "De 
serters  are  coming  home  rapidly,  and  meet  with 
such  countenance  and  encouragement,  that  it 
would  be  useless  to  try  to  arrest  them.  Any 
severe  punishment  there  [with  the  regiment] 
would  raise  a  storm  of  excitement  and  indigna 
tion.  The  war  seems  to  be  more  unpopular  than 
ever.  There  is  a  growing  disposition  to  fight  for 


A   WINTER    STORM.  181 

white  men's  rights,  and  to  crush  the  despotic 
power  now  so  intent  on  making  these  subservient 
to  those  of  the  negro.  A  revolution,  peaceable 
or  forcible,  is  pending  in  the  North." 

Whether  the  successful  crossing  of  the  Rap- 
pahannock  and  a  sight  of  the  old  foe  would  have 
aroused  the  flagging  courage  of  the  Federal 
army,  is  a  question  that  cannot  be  answered. 
But  in  view  of  the  vast  interests  at  stake,  it  is 
well,  perhaps,  that  an  experiment  so  full  of  peril 
was  not  pushed  to  the  issue. 

Long  before  the  Eleventh  had  reached  its  place 
of  bivouac,  the  clouds  that  overcast  the  noon 
day  sky  were  pouring  forth  a  drenching  rain 
accompanied  by  a  tempest  of  wind.  On  an  open 
field,  without  even  the  protection  of  a  forest,  the 
men  pitch  ed  their  shelter  tents.  Cold  and  stormy 
was  the  night  that  now  set  in,  whose  wearisome 
and  comfortless  hours  seemed  to  stretch  them 
selves  to  interminable  lengths.  But  above  the 
beating  of  the  rain,  and  the  whistling  of  the 
wind  could  be  heard  the  terrible  oaths  of  the 
cannoneers  and  the  bridge  builders,  urging  for 
ward  their  jaded  teams  drawing  pontoons  and 
artillery. 

Daylight  of  the  21st  came  through  murky 
clouds  and  a  drizzling  rain.  The  march  was 
continued  within  a  short  distance  of  the  river. 
What  a  change  in  twelve  hours !  The  hard  roads 
of  yesterday  had  sunk  two  feet  below,  and  the 

16 


182  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

army  waded  through  a  sea  of  mud.  Pedestrians 
and  horsemen,  by  slow  plodding,  and  tedious 
windings,  could  barely  navigate;  but  everything 
on  wheels  was  hopelessly  bemired.  Thirty-four 
pounders  and  twelve  pounders ;  commissary 
wagons  and  caissons;  pontoon  trains  and  ambu 
lances,  were  at  a  dead  lock,  hub-deep  in  the 
mud. 

According  to  orders,  the  bridges  were  to  be 
laid  at  earliest  dawn  of  this  day.  One  hundred 
boats  were  needed,  but  only  fifteen  had  reached 
the  ford — not  enough  for  a  single  spanning  of 
the  river.  A  hundred  and  fifty  cannon  were  to 
be  posted  along  the  overlooking  hights — not  a 
third  of  that  number  was  up  with  the  troops. 

The  wratchful  foe  on  the  opposite  shore  was 
now  awake  to  our  intentions.  Still  Burnside 
was  many  hours  in  advance  of  any  concentration 
of  forces  that  General  Lee  might  attempt;  and 
throughout  Wednesday  earnest  efforts  were 
made  to  bring  up  the  artillery  and  the  rest  of 
the  bridges.  Double  teams  and  triple  teams 
were  put  to  a  single  gun.  Regiments  of  men 
pried  at  the  wheels  and  pulled  at  the  ropes,  but 
the  deceptive  soil,  so  easy  to  penetrate,  with  its 
surface  of  sand,  held  fast  in  its  under-stratum  of 
clay  by  a  grip  impossible  to  escape. 

Thursday  morning,  new  earth-works  began  to 
be  seen  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rappahannock, 
and  by  railroad  from  the  right,  and  plank  road 
from  the  left,  the  Southern  legions  were  drawing 


BURXSIDE    IN    THE    MUD.  183 

near  the  threatened  point  of  United  States  Ford. 
There  was  scarcely  any  abatement  in  the  storm, 
and  no  improvement  in  the  roads.  The  elements 
were  against  us.  The  time  for  striking  a  deci 
sive  blow  had  passed. 

FRIDAY,  January  23. —  Again  in  camp  near 
Fletcher  chapel.  Last  night  we  were  bivouacked 
in  the  woods,  half  a  mile  from  the  river,  expect 
ing  every  moment  to  be  ordered  across.  To-night, 
knowing  that  the  winter  campaign  is  ended,  the 
troops  of  the  division  are  enjoying  the  log-cabins 
and  clay  huts  erected  weeks  ago.  So  little  con 
fidence  was  there  felt  in  the  success  of  the  last 
move,  that  the  men  did  not  destroy  their  quarters. 
There  was  nothing  to  do,  on  our  return,  but  to 
put  on  the  canvas  roofs  to  make  them  as  good  as 
ever,  except  considerably  dampened  by  the  heavy 
rain.  The  order  to  move  back  from  United  States 
Ford  came  at  daylight  this  morning.  "We  reached 
camp  about  five  o'clock  this  afternoon,  having 
marched  twelve  or  fourteen  miles  over  roads 
whose  like  for  mud  we  never  wish  as;ain  to  see. 

O 

One  must  be  here,  and  tramp  through  it,  to  know 
the  effects  of  a  few  hours'  rain  upon  the  half  sand 
and  half  clay  soil  of  Virginia.  The  rebels  are  in 
high  glee  at  our  failure  to  cross  the  Rappahan- 
nock,  and  are  giving  expression  to  their  joy  in 
shouts  and  cheers  that  we  can  distinctly  hear. 
Perhaps  if  they  knew  how  many  on  this  side  of 
the  stream  regard  that  failure  as  the  salvation 
of  the  Union  army,  they  would  be  less  exultant. 


VI. 

CHAPTER  I. 

BURNSIDE    GIVES    PLACE    TO    HOOKER. 

THREE  days  later  in  the  month  of  January, 
General  Burnside  was  relieved  of  the  command 
of  the  Potomac  Army,  and  General  Joseph  H. 
Hooker  appointed  his  successor.  Franklin,  of 
the  Left  Grand  Division,  and  Sumner,  of  the 
Right  Grand  Division,  were  also  relieved  of  their 
respective  commands. 

The  announcement  of  these  several  changes 
was  received  by  the  troops  with  manifest  uncon 
cern.  Who  commanded  outside  of  their  own 
regiment — certainly  outside  of  their  own  brigade 
— had  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  matter  of  per 
fect  indifference.  There  was,  therefore,  neither 
regret  for  the  departure  of  Bnruside,  nor  enthu 
siasm  over  the  promotion  of  Hooker. 

Desertions  were  still  frightfully  frequent  — 
counting  up  two  hundred  a  day.  Those  who 
were  successful  in  evading  the  pickets,  wrote 
back  to  camp,  for  the  benefit  of  others  that 
might  wish  to  leave,  minute  directions  how  to 
(184) 


ORGANIZED    DESERTION.  185 

proceed  —  what  route  to  take,  where  the  line 
was  weakest,  and  where  to  inquire  for  help. 

The  route  through  Maryland  was  discovered 
to  offer  fewer  risks  of  detection  to  the  runaway, 
and  therefore  the  most  popular.  Crossing  the 
Potomac  in  small  boats  that  could  easily  .conceal 
themselves  in  the  numerous  coves  along  the  shore, 
once  in  any  of  the  lower  counties  of  the  State, 
the  deserter  found  himself  among  friends,  where 
he  might  change  his  attire  of  blue  for  that  of  the 
citizen.  When  the  picket  boats  were  more  than 
usually  watchful,  and  the  sort  of  craft  in  which 
the  deserter  took  passage  could  not  come  from 
the  Maryland  side,  the  crossing  would  be  at 
tempted  on  the  frailest  kind  of  improvised  floats. 
Many  of  these  rafts,  in  the  darkness  of  the  night 
— the  time  always  selected  for  such  an  adven 
ture —  are  known  to  have  been  run  down  by 
steamers;  and  among  the  "missing"  on  the 
army  rolls,  whose  mysterious  fate  is  still  the 
wonder  of  the  household,  are  those  who  thus 
ingloriously  found  a  watery  sepulture. 

Besides  its  bad  effects  on  the  men  that  remained, 
to  lose  by  desertion  at  the  rate  of  a  regiment  a 
week  was  no  small  drain  on  the  material  strength 
of  the  army.  To  stop  this  leak  was  the  first  con 
cern  of  the  new  commander.  A  squadron  of 
cavalry  was  sent  across  into  St.  Mary's  County, 
Maryland,  with  orders  to  guard  well  all  the  roads 
running  north.  The  picket  lines  in  Virginia 
16* 


186  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

were  also  re-established  and  extended ;  but  with 
little  perceptible  improvement.  There  was  evi 
dent  collusion  between  the  vedette  and  the  de 
serter.  Even  those  that  were  apprehended  and 
brought  back,  though  in  several  instances  severely 
dealt  with,  failed  to  prove  wholesome  examples 
to  others.  The  true  spirit  of  the  soldier  was 
gone.  Politics  had  supplanted  patriotism ;  and 
a  discontent,  as  broadcast  as  it  was  craven, 
wasted  the  efficiency  of  officers  and  men. 

At  last  the  new  feature  of  a  complete  system 
of  furloughs  was  introduced.  Two  commissioned 
officers  in  a  regiment,  and  two  privates  out  of 
every  one  hundred  men,  were  granted  ten  days' 
leave  of  absence  at  a  time.  Cleanliness  in  ap 
pearance,  and  proficiency  in  the  manual  of  arms, 
were  also  rewarded  by  furloughs.  The  publica 
tion  of  this  order  was  the  first  successful  check 
to  desertion.  Every  man  had  now  a  hope  of 
visiting  home,  and  for  the  sake  of  an  honorable 
visit,  could  well  afford  to  bide  his  time. 

The  door  once  opened,  numerous  letters  were 
received  by  the  commanding  general  from  the 
wives  of  soldiers,  asking  a  short  leave  of  absence 
for  their  husbands.  In  all  such  cases  the  letters 
were  sent  to  the  several  regiments,  so  indorsed 
by  General  Hooker  as  to  secure  a  furlough  to  the 
happy  husband  of  the  interceding  wife.  It  will 
be  no  violation  of  confidence  at  this  late  day,  nor 
any  detriment  to  the  service,  to  mention  by  way 


A    NEW    BILL    OF    FARE.  187 

of  passing,  that  many  of  those  wives  were  the 
veriest  myths,  with  but  an  imaginary  existence, 
or  at  best  only  wives  prospective! y ! 

Another  measure  of  General  Hooker,  not  less 
magical  than  the  furlough  system  in  its  good  ef 
fects  on  the  morale  of  the  troops,  and  his  own 
popularity  as  a  commander,  was  the  generous 
reinforcement  of  the  commissary  department. 
The  blood  of  the  men  had  become  degenerated. 
They  had  lived  too  long  on  the  low  diet  of  hard 
tack,  salt  pork,  and  coffee.  Now  to  Uncle  Sam's 
bill  of  fare  was  added  potatoes,  onions,  rice,  and 
molasses — all  unknown  luxuries; — and  the  com 
missary  sergeants  gave  out  that  in  the  opening  of 
spring,  butter  and  eggs,  and  chickens  already 
roasted,  would  be  issued  as  regular  rations! 
Ovens  were  ordered  to  be  built  in  every  bri 
gade,  and  soft  bread,  of  an  excellent  quality,  was 
given  to  the  men  instead  of  the  inevitable  hard 
cracker. 

With  the  Potomac  River  as  the  line  of  com 
munication  with  Washington — a  line  perfectly 
secure  from  the  interruption  of  guerrilla  attacks 
— and  a  fleet  of  steamers,  larger  than  that  guard 
ing  the  North  Carolina  coast,  to  convey  supplies, 
the  rations  were  as  abundant  in  quantity  as  they 
were  good  in  kind  and  agreeable  in  variety.  The 
allowance  to  ten  men  for  a  period  of  thirty  days, 
as  compared  with  the  actual  consumption  of  a 
family  of  equal  number  in  civil  life,  will  show 


188  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

that  the  charge  of  starvation  could  not  be  suc 
cessfully  maintained  against  the  military  author 
ities  of  that  winter. 

To  ten  men  in  camp  were  issued  in  the  course 
of  thirty  days  three  hundred  pounds  of  meat;  four 
hundred  and  thirteen  pounds  of  bread — over  two 
barrels  of  flour;  thirty  pounds  of  rice;  ninety 
pounds  of  onions;  forty-five  pounds  of  sugar; 
twenty  four  pounds  of  ground  coffee;  ninety 
pounds  of  potatoes;  four  pounds  of  candles; 
twelve  pounds  of  soap;  one  pound  of  pepper; 
six  quarts  of  salt;  three  quarts  of  molasses;  three 
gallons  of  vinegar. 

A  regiment  of  one  thousand  men  consumed 
weekly  within  a  fraction  of  twenty-four  thousand 
pounds  of  rations.  Every  man  weighing  not 
more  than  one  hundred  and  forty-five  pounds, 
during  the  four  months  of  our  stay  at  Fletcher 
chapel  camp,  consumed  nearly  three  times  his 
weight  in  coffee  and  sugar,  bread,  meat,  onions, 
and  potatoes. 

The  winter  passed  through  all  the  variations 
of  climate  peculiar  to  that  region  of  Virginia; 
one  day  mild  and  spring-like,  and  the  next  day 
cold  as  the  latitude  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains. 
But  an  improved  condition  of  affairs  soon  mani 
fested  itself  among  the  troops.  There  was  a 
more  cheerful  submission  to  discipline,  a  more 
hearty  discharge  of  duty;  and  as  each  man  be 
gan  to  think  better  of  himself,  he  thought  better 


ARMY    KEPT    EMPLOYED.  189 

of  the  Cause  for  which  he  was  contending.  "Well 
clothed  and  well  fed,  the  old  enthusiasm  that 
carried  the  army  through  the  campaigns  of  the 
former  year  was  seen  to  return. 

Though  there  were  no  battles  to  be  fought, 
there  was  woi»k  enough  on  picket,  and  in  the 
details  for  fatigue  duty,  to  keep  all  employed, 
thus  driving  away  the  evils  ever  attendant  upon 
a  stationary  army.  Thousands  of  men  were  en 
gaged  every  hour  of  the  day  at  the  several  land 
ings  where  supplies  were  received,  in  unloading 
steamers  and  loading  up  wagons.  Miles  of  cor 
duroy  road  were  constructed,  leading  from  the 
numerous  camps  to  Belle  Plain,  Falmouth,  and 
Aquia  Creek.  Ancient  highways  and  landmarks 
were  utterly  ignored  in  the  construction  of  these 
roads,  and  the  landowner  will  find  the  evidences 
of  Yankee  industry  where  he  least  expects  them, 
and  where  he  least  desires  them — some-times  run 
ning  across  the  meadow,  and  over  the  lawn,  and 
through  the  barn-yard.  For  generations  to  come 
those  old  corduroy  roads,  so  different  from  any 
thing  natural  to  Virginia  in  their  vast  expenditure 
of  labor  and  skill,  will  be  interesting  remains  of 
the  great  conflict. 

But  with  all  this  work  to  do,  there  were  many 
leisure  hours;  and  the  chaplain  could  see  the  im 
proved  spirits  of  the  men  in  the  manner  in  which 
they  employed  their  leisure.  Xo  church  choir, 
with  its  accompaniment  of  splendid  organ,  ever 


190  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

sent  forth  grander  sounds  of  music  than  the  even- 
ing  breezes  then  wafted  from  the  group  of  men 
that  used  to  meet  in  the  clear,  open  moonlight, 
for  praise  and  prayer.  There  was  also  a  closer 
intercommunion,  through  letter  writing,  with 
the  better  associations  of  home,  prompted  doubt 
less  by  the  excellent  mail  arrangements  of  the 
army. 

Even  the  recreations  of  the  camp  took  a  dif 
ferent  turn,  and  wore  a  changed  complexion. 
With  many  of  the  men  it  was  an  impossible  un 
dertaking  to  convince  them  that  there  was  any 
harm  in  a  simple  game  at  cards,  only  engaged  in 
to  pass  the  time,  and  where  nothing  was  lost  or 
won.  But  the  game  did  not  always  maintain 
this  assumed  innocency  of  character.  The  morbid 
state  of  mind,  growing  out  of  the  wide  spread 
discontent,  found  a  momentary  relief  in  desper 
ate  venture,  in  which  officers  and  men  alike 
indulged,  and  where  the  only  support  of  depend 
ent  ones  at  home  was  oftentimes  wickedly  squan 
dered. 

It  was  the  sign  of  a  healthier  state  of  morals, 
as  well  as  of  physics,  when  the  men  began  to 
seek  recreation  in  the  open  air,  in  trials  of  phys 
ical  strength,  and  in  the  dextrous  pitch  of  the 
quoit,  or  toss  of  the  ball.  And  when,  in  the  exu 
berance  of  their  spirits,  a  delinquent  mess-mate 
was  placed  on  a  blanket  made  taut  by  the  grip 
of  a  score  of  hands,  and  bounded  ten  feet  into 


IMPROVED    CONDITION    OF   THE    TROOPS.         191 

the  air,  to  come  down  again  in  the  midst  of  the 
merry  group,  only  to  make  a  second  and  a  third 
such  involuntary  upward  flight, — it  was  always 
more  pleasant  to  hear  the  hearty  laugh,  over 
these  rough  out-door  camp  sports,  than  to  reflect 
that,  for  want  of  the  spirit  to  engage  in  more 
manly  recreation,  many  were  dissipating  hody 
and  soul  around  the  card-tahle  or  the  dice-board. 

Xot  content  with  its  own  proper  allotment  of 
time,  the  winter  made  heavy  draughts  upon  the 
spring  months  of  March  and  April.  Through 
much  of  the  former  month  we  were  disposed  to 
think  that  there  had  been  an  upheaving  in  other 
affairs  than  those  of  the  nation,  and  that  some 
how  March  had  jostled  itself  into  the  place  of 
.February.  Such  blustering  and  biting  winds  as 
swept  over  that  northern  neck  of  Virginia  are 
scarcely  more  pleasant  to  think  of  than  they  were 
to  endure. 

One  particular  night  the  winds  made  the  camp 
of  the  Eleventh  the  point  of  their  fiercest  as 
saults.  Away  down  the  ravines,  and  over  the 
hills,  we  could  tell  by  the  deep  and  sullen  roar 
that  there  was  a  gathering  of  those  ariel  troop 
ers.  Waken  when  we  would,  they  were  howling 
round  the  tent,  straining  at  the  ropes,  and  striking 
such  angry  blows  against  its  sides  and  roof  as  to 
make  one  wonder  whether  the  next  minute  would 
not  leave  him  houseless  in  the  unpitying  storm. 

At  last  there  was  a  momentary  lull.    Morning 


192  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

was  nearly  ready  to  dawn,  and  we  thought  the 
disturbers  of  our  dreams  had  fled  to  their  secret 
hiding-places.  It  was  a  fond  thought !  Gather 
ing  all  their  forces  for  a  mighty  effort,  before  the 
sun  should  see  them  at  their  furious  work,  a 
thundering  blast  struck  our  tent.  The  long- 
strained  ropes  parted  in  every  strand.  The  sides, 
first  collapsing,  were  thrown  madly  back  upon 
the  roof,  while  unseen  arms,  catching  up  the 
ruined  tent,  hurled  it  to  the  ground  fifty  feet 
distant. 

The  same  rude  blast  that  carried  away  our 
house  stripped  the  bed  whereon  we  lay  of  all  its 
covering,  and  but  for  the  timely  assistance  of  the 
thoughtful  quartermaster,  we  should  have  been 
left  to  meet  the  keen  morning  weather  with  far 
less  covering  than  that  required  by  army  regula 
tions. 

But  the  March  winds,  hardening  the  mud,  put 
a  new  bottom  in  the  worn-out  Virginia  roads, 
and  early  in  April,  throughout  every  department 
of  the  troops,  there  was  the  usual  hurry  attend 
ant  on  an  important  movement.  Discarding  the 
Right,  Left,  and  Center  Grand  Divisions,  Hooker 
had  reorganized  his  army  into  corps.  The  First 
Corps,  under  command  of  General  John  F.  Rey 
nolds,  included  the  Divisions  of  Wadsworth, 
Doubleday,  and  Robinson,  to  the  latter  of  which 
belonged  the  Eleventh. 

The  roll  of  the  drum  and  the  sound  of  the  bu- 


PREPARATIONS    TO    MARCH.  193 

gle  called  forth  from  the  log  cabins  and  clay  huts, 
in  which  they  had  passed  a  third  of  the  year, 
one  hundred  thousand  men.  It  was  the  opening 
of  the  spring  campaign,  and  Hooker  was  to  re 
peat  the  undertaking  in  which  Burnside  had 
twice  signally  failed. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    CHANCELLORVILLE    CAMPAIGN. 

EVERY  possible  crossing  of  the  Rappahannock 
had  been  rendered  doubly  secure  by  the  indus 
trious  enemy,  and  the  game  of  strategy  com 
menced  now  was  more  desperate  than  ever. 
Stoneman's  cavalry  had  already  started  on  its 
perilous  journey  to  the  rear  of  the  rebel  army, 
designed  to  sever  all  communication  with  Rich 
mond.  Doubleday's  Division  of  the  First  Corps 
was  sent  to  Port  Conway,  and  kindling  fires  along 
the  route  gave  out  the  impression  of  a  large 
force  preparing  to  cross  there.  Following  after 
Stoneman  were  the  three  corps  of  Slocum,  How 
ard,  and  Meade.  Marching  far  to  the  right,  and 
crossing  first  the  Rappahannock  and  then  the 
Rapidan,  these  corps  were  concentrated  in  the 

17 


194  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

Wilderness,  near  Chancellorville,  before  the 
foiled  and  baffled  enemy  knew  where  the  Fed 
eral  commander  intended  to  strike  his  first  blow. 

Longstreet's  Corps  was  absent  from  our  front, 
operating  in  the  neighborhood  of  Suffolk.  A 
part  of  Lee's  forces  had  been  drawn  off'  in  the 
direction  of  Port  Con  way,  and  further  to  divert 
attention  from  the  right,  on  the  afternoon  of 
April  28th  the  First  Corps  moved  directly  toward 
the  Rappahaunock.  There  was  now  no  lurking 
suspicion  that  the  Eleventh  would  ever  again  oc 
cupy  the  old  camp.  Quarters  that  had  been  built 
with  great  care,  and  at  an  outlay  of  much  mus 
cle — in  keeping  with  true  soldier  policy  to  destroy 
what  cannot  be  used — were  either  leveled  to  the 
ground  or  given  to  the  flames. 

A  short  march  of  two  or  three  miles,  and  we 
bivouacked  in  the  woods  until  three  o'clock  next 
morning.  Then  continuing  the  advance,  by  day 
light  of  the  29th  the  corps  was  massed  along  the 
river,  in  front  of  the  Fitzhugh  house.  Over 
against  us,  clothed  in  the  bright  green  of  spring, 
were  those  murderous  hights  and  that  fatal  plain 
of  the  last  December.  But  neither  the  recollec 
tion  of  former  defeat,  nor  the  threatening  line  of 
rifle-pits  occupied  by  the  enemy,  abated  the  ar 
dor  of  the  men.  The  pontoons  were  quickly  laid, 
and  Wadsworth's  Division  crossed  to  the  south 
side,  losing  in  the  transit  nine  men  killed  and 
forty  or  fifty  wounded,  but  clearing  out  the  rifle- 


FIRST    CORPS    ON    THE    LEFT.  195 

pits  with  a  loss  to  the  enemy  of  twenty-three 
killed  and  one  hundred  prisoners. 

Fitzhugh  mansion  was  the  residence  of  Major 
Norman  Fitzhugh,  of  the  Confederate  army.  The 
estate  contained  a  thousand  acres,  and  from  the 
broad  veranda  in  front  of  the  dwelling  was  pre 
sented  a  scene  of  rare  landscape  loveliness.  The 
parlor  carpets  had  been  taken  up  and  sent  to 
the  Richmond  hospitals,  to  be  used  as  substitutes 
for  blankets,  but  there  still  remained  costly  tables 
and  sideboards,  elegant  chairs  and  sofas,  and  rich 
adornings  of  damask  curtains,  and  choice  paint 
ings.  These  parlors  were  converted  into  a  hos 
pital,  and  amid  such  surroundings  we  attended 
our  wounded,  .while  the  surgeons  spread  their 
amputating  tables  in  the  spacious  hall. 

"When  was  your  master  home,  uncle?"  we 
inquired  of  an  old  servant. 

"Only  'tother  day,  sah.  He  is  in  de  camp  jist 
across  de  riber,  dab.  He  can  see  now  all  dat's 
gwine  on  ober  here." 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  30th,  the  enemy 
was  seen  moving  up  the  river  in  considerable 
force,  and  tiling  off  behind  the  Fredericksburg 
hights.  Turning  our  guns  upon  the  column, 
that  came  within  easy  range  at  the  fording  of 
Massaponax  Creek,  we  attracted  the  fire  of  seve 
ral  rebel  batteries,  that  for  an  hour  devoted  them 
selves  to  the  destruction  of  our  pontoon  bridges. 
One  shell,  exploding  in  the  Thirteenth  Massa- 


196  STORY   OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

chusetts,  that  lay  to  our  right,  killed  Captain 
Bush  and  five  men,  and  severely  wounded  ten 
others. 

Occasionally,  through  the  night  of  the  29th, 
as  the  First  Corps  still  maintained  its  position  on 
the  left,  a  cannon  discharge  was  heard  high  up 
the  river,  indicating  important  movements  in 
other  parts  of  the  field.  "With  morning  came  a 
dispatch  from  General  Hooker,  announcing  that 
the  operations  on  the  right  had  been  so  success 
ful  that  the  enemy  would  be  compelled  to  come 
out  from  behind  his  intrenchments,  and  fight  on 
open  ground,  or  give  up  his  strongly  fortified 
position.  The  Union  army  had  an  abiding  faith 
that  on  an  open  field  it  must  be  victorious,  and  the 
announcement  was  received  with  shouts  so  loud 
and  long  that  the  rebel  column  halted  in  its 
march,  startled  by  the  awakened  echoes. 

Saturday,  May  2d,  Fitzhugh  hospital  was 
given  up  to  those  wounded  on  Wednesday  and 
Thursday,  and  the  First  Corps  marched  to  Chan- 
cellorville.  Besides  sixty  rounds  of  ammunition, 
the  men  carried  in  their  haversacks  eight  days' 
rations.  Thus  equipped,  those  twenty  miles  were 
a  fatiguing  march;  but  every  belching  cannon 
seemed  to  tell  that  our  presence  was  needful  to 
success,  and  the  men  toiled  bravely  on.  It  was 
midnight  when  the  Eleventh,  at  the  head  of  the 
Third  Division,  reached  the  banks  of  the  Rappa- 
hannock.  Filing  down  the  narrow  and  tortuous 


INTO    THE    WILDERNESS.  197 

road  to  the  river,  and  crossing  at  United  States 
Ford,  on  the  opposite  side  we  entered  the  Wil 
derness. 

Never  was  a  dreary  and  desolate  belt  of  coun 
try  more  properly  named.  It  is  a  region  of  dense 
woods,  not  of  large  trees,  but  of  gnarled  and  ill- 
shapen  oak,  so  thickly  studding  the  ground, 
which  in  many  places  is  broken  and  marshy, 
that  a  man  could  hardly  march  through  it  with 
out  trailing  his  musket.  But  the  Wilderness  on 
that  night  was  a  scene  of  appalling  grandeur. 
The  bursting  shells  had  ignited  the  dry  leaves, 
and  the  red  names,  running  up  the  tree  trunks 
and  enveloping  the  highest  branches,  made  the 
whole  country  like  an  ocean  of  lire. 

Up  to  Saturday  afternoon,  all  had  gone  well  at 
Chancellorville.  Considering  the  nature  of  the 
ground,  the  troops  were  in  admirable  position  for 
attack  or  defense,  patiently  awaiting  the  devel 
opment  of  General  Hooker's  plans.  Toward 
four  o'clock  a  suspicious  movement  was  observed 
on  the  part  of  the  enemy.  Stonewall  Jackson, 
with  a  force  of  forty  thousand  men,  was  coming 
around  on  our  right  Hank.  Whether  it  was  a  re 
treat,  or  a  contemplated  attack  upon  some  point 
of  the  line,  did  not  at  once  appear.  The  column 
was  a  mile  distant,  marching  along  the  plank 
road  leading  from  Fredericksburg  to  Gordons- 
ville;  and  to  ascertain  its  destination,  a  division 
of  the  Third  Corps  was  pushed  out  on  a  recon- 
17* 


198  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

noissance.  It  was  soon  found  that  whatever  else 
the  movement  meant,  it  did  not  mean  a  retreat, 
and  another  division  of  the  same  corps,  with  a 
part  of  Pleasanton's  cavalry,  was  also  sent  for 
ward. 

It  was  now  dark,  and  falling  upon  the  flank  of 
Jackson,  the  advance  of  the  Third  Corps  prom 
ised  to  he  a  brilliant  success.  But  meanwhile 
the  enemy,  acting  out  the  peculiar  strategy  of 
Jackson,  massed  a  heavy  force  in  front  of  the 
Eleventh  Corps  holding  the  Federal  right;  and 
without  throwing  forward  so  much  as  a  skirm- 

O 

isher,  hurled  his  whole  force  against  that  one 
point  of  our  line.  Unable  to  resist  the  impetu 
ous  assault,  and  stricken  with  panic,  the  entire 
corps  gave  way.  Scarcely  a  shot  was  fired  in 
their  desperate  haste,  and  the  mass  of  fugitives 
throwing  away  guns  and  haversacks,  and  stam 
peding  artillery  and  ambulances,  well-nigh  con 
founded  the  whole  field. 

While  these  terrified  troops  were  thus  stream 
ing  to  the  rear  by  hundreds,  others,  throwing 
themselves  into  the  deserted  place,  were  perform 
ing  deeds  of  heroic  valor.  General  Pleasanton, 
coming  to  the  right  with  two  regiments  of  cav 
alry,  took  in  at  one  glance  the  whole  measure  of 
the  catastrophe.  The  rebels  were  already  in 
rear  of  our  troops,  and  still  pressing  onward. 
"  I  saw,"  said  the  general,  "  that  it  was  a  critical 
moment.  Calling  Major  Keenau,  of  the  Eighth 


JACKSON'S  FLANK  ATTACK.  199 

Pennsylvania  Cavalry,  I  said  to  him,  'Major,  you 
must  charge  into  the  woods  with  your  regiment, 
and  hold  the  rebels  until  I  can  get  some  of  these 
abandoned  guns  into  position.  You  must  do  it 
at  all  cost.'  I  gave  this  order  to  the  major  be 
cause  I  knew  his  character  so  well ;  that  he  was 
the  man  for  the  occasion.  He  replied  to  me  with 
a  smile  on  his  face,  though  it  was  almost  certain 
death  : 

'"General,  I  will  do  it.' 

"  He  then  started  in  with  his  whole  regiment 
of  about  four  hundred  men.  It  was  one  of  the 
most  gallant  charges  of  the  war.  The  major 
was  killed  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  but  he 
alarmed  the  enemy  so  much  that  I  gained  about 
ten  minutes  of  precious  time.  I  immediately 
run  up  my  horse  battery  at  a  gallop,  put  it  into 
position,  ordered  it  unlimbered  and  double- 
shotted  with  canister,  and  directed  the  men  to 
aim  at  the  ground  line  of  the  parapet  that  the 
Eleventh  Corps  had  thrown  up,  about  two  hun 
dred  yards  off.  I  then  set  to  work  with  two 
squadrons  of  the  remaining  regiment  to  clear  this 
field  of  fugitives,  arid  to  stop  what  cannon  and 
ammunition  that  we  could  and  put  them  in  posi 
tion.  I  managed  to  get  twenty-two  guns  loaded, 
double-shotted,  and  aiming  on  this  space  in  front 
of  us  The  whole  woods  now  appeared  to  be 
alive  with  men.  I  had  ordered  the  pieces  not  to 
fire  unless  I  gave  the  word,  because  I  wanted  the 


200  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

effect  of  an  immense  shock.  Presently  the  rebels 
commenced  leaping  over  the  parapet,  and  as  they 
did  so,  I  saw  eight  or  ten  battle-flags  run  up  the 
line.  I  immediately  gave  the  order— -fire! — and 
the  fire  actually  swept  the  men  away;  it  seemed  to 
blow  those  men  in  front  clean  over  the  parapet." 

Sunday  morning  the  battle  was  renewed  on 
this  disputed  part  of  the  field.  But  though  the 
rebels  came  to  the  work  with  great  spirit,  their 
attacks  showed  the  absence  of  the  intrepid  Stone 
wall  Jackson.  In  the  assault  of  the  night  be 
fore,  either  by  the  shots  of  his  own  men  or  the 
murderous  fire  of  Pleasanton,  Jackson  had  been 
mortally  wounded,  and  the  hero  of  so  many  bat 
tles  was  now  far  to  the  rear,  in  a  dying  condition. 

The  same  volley  that  struck  Jackson  to  the 
ground,  killed,  wounded,  or  dismounted  his  entire 
escort,  except  one  aid-de-camp  and  a  signal  officer. 
In  removing  the  dying  general  to  the  rear,  one  of 
the  men  carrying  the  stretcher  on  which  he  lay 
was  shot  through  both  arms,  and  dropped  his 
burden.  His  companion  did  likewise,  hastily 
flying  from  the  dangerous  locality,  and  but  for 
one  of  the  officers  present,  who  caught  the  han 
dle  of  the  litter,  it  would  have  fallen  to  the 
ground. 

"Under  these  circumstances  the  litter  was 
lowered  into  the  road,  and  the  officers  lay  down 
by  it  to  protect  themselves  in  some  degree  from 
the  merciless  hurricane  of  grape  and  canister 


DEATH  OF  STONEWALL  JACKSON.      201 

which  whistled  through  the  air.  They  lay  in 
this  manner  without  moving,  and  in  the  midst 
of  the  most  terrific  confusion.  A  few  minutes 
before,  the  road  had  been  crowded,  and  now  no 
man  or  beast  was  visible  except  those  writhing 
in  the  agonies  of  death.  The  wounded  soldier 
and  his  companions  were  the  sole  living  human 
beings  upon  the  gloomy  scene."* 

The  rout  of  the  Eleventh  Corps  lost  to  Hooker 
the  key  of  the  position  at  Chancellorville.  But 
the  original  line  was  maintained  throughout  the 
night,  though  at  great  disadvantage,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  co-operating  with  the  movement  of  Gen 
eral  Sedgwick  on  the  left.  The  First  Corps  took 
position  on  the  right  of  the  army,  with  Robin 
son's  Division  as  the  extreme  right  of  the  corps. 
Occupying  the  center  of  the  division,  Taylor's 
Brigade  was  thrown  across  the  road  leading  to 
Ely's  Ford  on  the  Rapidan.  Excepting  the  nar 
row  road  in  front,  and  here  and  there  a  bare 
place  of  several  yards  in  extent,  this  part  of  the 
line  was  a  dense  woods.  Into  the  deep  under 
brush,  the  Xinth  Xew  York  was  deployed  as 
pickets,  while  the  rest  of  the  brigade  strength 
ened  the  position  by  throwing  up  intrenchrnents. 
Thompson's  Pennsylvania  Battery  was  also  added 
to  the  force,  which  completed  the  preparations  for 
a  stubborn  resistance,  should  the  enemy  again 
attempt  to  break  through  the  right. 

*  Cooke's  Life  of  Jackson. 


202  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT* 

Though  the  attack  of  Sunday  morning  did  not 
reach  our  immediate  front,  many  of  the  enemy's 
wounded,  lost  in  that  entangled  wilderness,  came 
within  our  lines  and  were  captured.  A  half-fam 
ished  rebel  picket,  leaving  his  musket  in  charge 
of  a  companion,  crawled  a  few  feet  through 
the  brush,  where  the  ground  seemed  to  slope  a 
little,  to  a  marshy  spot  that  promised  a  canteen 
full  of  water.  So  near  were  the  opposing  lines, 
and  yet  so  completely  hidden  from  each  other, 
that  those  few  feet  brought  the  Georgia  ranger 
within  reach  of  our  own  watchful  picket,  keep 
ing  guard  on  the  counter  slope  of  the  same  shal 
low  ravine. 

Monday  morning  was  ushered  in  by  a  daring 
attempt,  some  distance  to  the  left,  near  the  Rap- 
pahannock.  Discovering  a  wide  gap  in  the  Fed 
eral  lines,  the  enemy  boldly  pushed  forward  four 
guns  to  the  brow  of  the  river  hill,  and  discharged 
their  contents  into  our  wagon  train,  parked  on 
the  north  side.  It  was  the  last  fire  of  that  bat 
tery  against  us.  Closing  up  the  gap,  and  before 
they  had  time  to  reload,  gunners  and  guns  were 
added  to  the  list  of  captives. 

General  Sedgwick  had  taken  the  hights  of 
Fredericksburg,  and  was  reported  as  marching 
up  in  rear  of  the  rebels.  As  we  sat  behind  our 
intrenchments,  listening  to  the  heavy  sound  of 
exploding  cannon,  we  tried  to  imagine  that  each 
distinct  report  was  coming  nearer.  Later  in  the 


FIRST    CORPS    ON   THE    RIGHT.  203 

day,  attention  was  diverted  from  the  left  to  the 
front.  So  tierce  was  the  fire  of  musketry  and 
artillery,  that  for  a  moment  it  was  believed  that 
Sedgwick  had  driven  the  entire  rebel  army  upon 
us ;  and  that  they  were  determined  to  make  up 
on  the  right  what  they  were  certainly  losing  on 
the  left. 

When  comparative  quiet  was  restored,  the 
Ninety-seventh  Xew  York,  that  had  relieved  the 
Xinth  Xew  York  of  picket  duty,  was  in  turn  re 
lieved  by  the  Eleventh.  There  was  evident  un 
easiness  all  along  the  rebel  front;  but  the  frequent 
alarms  throughout  the  night,  when  the  discharge 
of  a  single  gun  drew  forth  the  fire  of  the  whole 
picket  line,  made  another  attack  like  that  of 
Saturday  night  impossible. 

Tuesday  morning,  May  5th,  General  Hooker's 
plans  had  entirely  miscarried.  Compelled  to 
retire  from  his  first  line  at  Chancellorville  by  the 
breaking  of  the  Eleventh  Corps,  there  was  an 
equally  disastrous  failure  on  the  part  of  General 
Sedgwick  to  carry  out  the  operations  assigned 
to  him.  Instead  of  uniting  his  forces  with 
those  on  the  right,  the  advantage  of  the  cap 
ture  of  Fredericksburg  hights  was  all  lost;  and 
to  save  his  command  from  destruction  or  cap 
ture,  Sedgwick  was  compelled  to  retire  by  way 
of  Bank's  Ford  to  the  north  side  of  the  Rappa- 
hannock. 

Hooker    now   determined    to   withdraw    from 


204  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

Chancellorville.  The  movement  was  to  com 
mence  on  Monday  night.  But  a  heavy  rain 
storm,  swelling  the  river  to  flood-night,  and 
making  it  necessary  to  take  up  one  of  the  pon 
toon  bridges  to  lengthen  the  remaining  two,  de 
layed  the  crossing  until  Tuesday.  The  retrograde 
march  was  from  left  of  the  line  to  right.  Early 
Wednesday  morning  Colonel  Coulter  was  ordered 
to  call  in  the  Eleventh,  still  on  picket,  as  quietly 
as  possible.  An  hour  later,  the  regiment  was 
concentrated  in  the  intrenchments,  now  aban 
doned  by  all  but  the  One-hundred-and-seventh 
Pennsylvania.  We  were  the  rear-guard  of  the 
army. 

Moving  quickly  back  toward  the  river,  with 
flanks  and  rear  protected  by  a  strong  line  of 
skirmishers,  of  all  the  thousands  of  men  who 
had  marched  over  that  ground,  and  the  hundreds 
of  wagons  and  artillery  that  were  going  and  com 
ing  night  and  day  for  a  week  past,  nothing  was 
to  be  seen.  The  tire  that  blazed  so  furiously 
in  the  midnight  of  Saturday,  had  burned  far 
into  the  woods,  leaving  the  road-side  lined  with 
charred  and  smouldering  tree  trunks,  while  here 
and  there  a  noble  oak,  growing  among  its  meaner 
kind,  and  more  tenacious  of  life  than  they,  pre 
sented  in  that  early  morning  a  heart  still  glowing 
with  tire. 

Xot  a  foe  followed  our  retreat;  and  by  eight 
o'clock  of  the  6th  of  May,  the  army  of  General 


RETREAT  FROM  THE  WILDERNESS.      205 

Hooker,  excepting  the  brave  men  that  lay  dead 
or  wounded  on  the  field,  had  recrossed  the  Rap- 
pahannock. 


CHAPTER  III. 

• 

AFTER    THE    BATTLE    OF    CHANCELLORVILLE. 

THE  heavy  rain  that  threatened  to  carry  down 
the  pontoon  bridges,  and  leave  Hooker  without 
a  way  of  retreat  from  the  Wilderness,  had  a 
damaging  effect  upon  the  tine  smooth  roads  over 
which,  but  a  few  days  before,  the  army  had 
marched  to  Chancellorville.  In  the  depth  of  the 
mud,  now  worked  up  to  the  consistency  of  thin 
mortar  by  the  troops  that  preceded  us,  the  rear 
guard  had  much  to  remind  it  of  the  muddy 
"march  of  the  last  January.  But  unincumbered 
by  either  wagons  or  artillery,  the  men  picked 
their  way,  as  best  they  could,  first  on  one  side  of 
the  road,  then  on  the  other,  bivouacking  at  night 
two  miles  above  Falmouth. 

A  depot  of  rations,  found  not  far  from  the 
ford,  without  commissary  sergeant  or  guard,  was 
seized  as  public  property,  from  which  the  men 
replenished  their  empty  haversacks.  Thus  pro 
vided  for  an  ample  feast,  after  the  hurried  eating 
on  the  battle-field,  which  is  never  scarcely  better 

18 


206  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

than  a  semi-fast,  the  hour  of  bivouac  was  heartily 
welcomed. 

Hooker's  new  line  of  defense  was  nearer  the 
Rappahannock  than  that  maintained  during  the 
winter,  throwing  the  First  Corps  still  further 
down  the  Northern  Neck,  and  bringing  the 
camps  of  the  Third  Division  some  distance  below 
the  mouth  of  Mattaponax  Creek.  One  day  later 
than  the  rest  of  the  troops,  the  Eleventh  joined 
the  division,  once  more  taking  position  on  the 
extreme  left,  and  again  near  the  outer  line  of 
pickets. 

There  was  no  longer  any  need  of  winter 
quarters;  but  the  warm  sun,  every  day  growing 
warmer,  suggested  a  protection  from  its  exhaust 
ing  heat,  which  was  dignified  with  the  home- 
sounding  title  of  summer-house.  A  frame  work 
of  saplings,  so  constructed  as  to  cover  the  top  of 
the  tent  and  extend  some  distance  in  front  of  it, 
was  overlaid  with  branches  of  spruce  and  hem 
lock,  making  a  roof  that  at  once  screened  us 
from  the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  threw  an  agreeable 
shade  around  our  canvas  dwellings. 

Within  the  shadow  of  these  bowers  was  dis 
cussed  the  successes  and  failures  of  the  last  bat 
tle.  In  the  Union  army,  where  every  man  had 
access  to  newspapers  containing  such  admirable 
correspondence  from  every  part  of  the  field,  all 
the  different  points  of  a  campaign  came  very 
soon  to  be  well  understood  and  freelv  canvassed. 


FEELING    AMONG    THE    TROOPS.  207 

It  cannot  be  said  that  the  failure  of  Chancel- 
lorville  had  any  bad  effect  on  the  troops  other 
than  that  it  was  a  disappointment.  There  had 
not  been  enough  of  hard  marching  or  unsuccess 
ful  fighting  to  dishearten  them.  A  compara 
tively  small  part  of  the  army  was  actually  en 
gaged  with  the  enemy,  and  the  larger  part  that 
remained  idle  in  the  hearing  of  guns  and  in 
the  sight  of  battle-lines,  felt  disappointed  that 
the  whole  of  General  Hooker's  splendid  army 
had  not  been  brought  against  Lee;  as  in  that 
event  victory  would  have  been  certain. 

The  men  of  the  army  always  spoke  of  their 
commander  as  "Fighting  Joe."  Playing  upon 
that  familiar  mode  of  expression,  the  rebels  now 
called  him  "  Fallen  Joe."  But  though  Hooker  had 
failed  of  positive  success  in  the  Wilderness,  he 
had  crossed  the  Rappahannock;  surprised  the 
enemy  in  his  intrenchments;  captured  five  thou 
sand  prisoners,  and  disabled  eighteen  thousand 
of  his  chosen  troops.  The  battle  of  Chancel lor- 
ville  was  accepted  rather  as  an  earnest  of  what 
Hooker  could  do,  than  a  proof  of  what  he  had  not 
done. 

Not  far  from  the  camp  of  the  Eleventh  was 
another  of  those  Virginia  mansions,  resembling 
in  its  generous  dimensions,  as  in  its  internal 
finish  and  outward  beauty  of  grounds,  the  resi 
dence  of  Major  Fitzhugh.  The  proprietor  was 
in  the  South,  and  for  two  years  the  fields  had 


208  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

been  uncultivated,  and  the  garden  and  lawn  suf 
fered  to  grow  wild  with  weeds,  save  the  little 
attention  given  to  them  by  a  family  of  miserably 
poor  white  retainers  living  on  a  part  of  the 
estate. 

In  two  days  after  our  arrival,  if  one  had  made 
a  tour  through  the  encampments  of  the  First 
Corps  lying  nearest  this  mansion,  he  might  have 
found  distributed  here  and  there,  as  additions 
either  ornamental  or  useful,  almost  everything 
that  could  be  carried  from  the  forsaken  house.  The 
heavy  panneled  doors  were  transformed  into  camp 
bedsteads  of  the  most  approved  style,  or  made  to 
serve  the  meaner  purpose  of  a  tent  floor.  In  one 
of  our  company  streets,  cool  and  airy  quarters 
were  constructed  of  its  Venetian  shutters ;  and 
though  all  the  glass  had  been  broken  from  the 
windows,  members  of  another  company,  not  to  be 
outdone  by  the  inventive  genius  of  their  neigh 
bors,  carried  away  the  empty  sash,  of  which 
they  built  quarters  still  more  cool  and  airy. 

Scattered  over  the  floors,  and  mingled  with 
broken  china  and  mahogany,  were  papers  and 
letters  doubtless  of  great  value  to  the  family, 
because  of  the  many  years  through  which  they 
had  been  preserved.  An  old  ledger  told  that  in 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  the  elder 
proprietor  was  a  merchant,  living  in  Port  Royal, 
on  the  Rappahannock.  The  Fitzhughs,  and  the 
Lewises,  and  the  Slaughters,  and  Hed^man,  and 


REVELATIONS    OF    OLD    LETTERS.  209 

Taliferio,  were  among  his  customers ;  in  many 
instances  buying  at  a  single  purchase  of  shoes, 
cotton  goods,  and  calico  (supplies  for  their  slaves) 
to  the  value  of  ^£50. 

A  soldier,  with  nothing  else  to  employ  his 
leisure  time,  gathered  a  bundle  of  these  scattered 
papers  and  brought  them  into  camp.  It  was  a 
strange  coincidence,  that  two  of  the  letters  thus 
preserved  should  present  the  old  Virginia  mer 
chant  in  such  different  phases  of  character.  One 
letter  was  from  a  clergyman,  thanking  him  for 
his  "thoughtful  gift"  of  twenty  pounds.  The 
other  was  from  a  lady,  appealing  to  him,  as  the 
executor  of  her  deceased  husband,  to  deal  justly 
with  herself  and  dependent  children. 

Our  field  glasses  revealed  a  state  of  things  on 
the  south  bank  of  the  Rappahannock  very  like 
to  that  existing  on  its  north  side.  There,  too, 
summer  bowers  could  be  seen,  mingling  their 
dark  green  with  tents  bleached  to  pure  whiteness 
by  the  spring  rains  and  the  summer  sun.  The 
pickets  were  in  easy  speaking  distance  of  each 
other,  and  for  a  time  neither  army  seemed  dis 
posed  to  do  more  than  lazily  patrol  the  opposite 
shores  of  the  river. 

Then  came  alarms  from  the  rebel  side.  There 
were  movements  of  artillery,  and  marchings  of 
infantry,  that  awakened  suspicion,  and  led  to  the 
belief  that  the  enemy  contemplated  a  crossing 
somewhere  on  the  loft.  Between  corps  head- 
is* 


210  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

quarters  and  the  pickets,  a  line  of  couriers  was 
established,  and  the  old  spirit  of  vigilance,  suf 
fered  to  sleep  awhile  after  the  battle  of  Chan- 
cellorville,  was  fully  aroused. 

Tow  ird  the  latter  part  of  May,  the  camp  was 
astir  at  midnight  by  a  report  that  the  enemy  was 
crossing  the  river  in  large  force.  Wagons  were 
packed  and  moved  out  to  the  road,  and  the  troops 
got  in  readiness  to  form  in  line  at  a  moment's 
notice.  But  it  turned  out  to  be  a  false  alarm, 
thus  accounted  for  by  one  from  the  south  side: 
"  Night  before  last  an  incident  occurred  which 
exhibited  their  [our]  nervousness.  A  party  of 
Mississippi  an  s  undertook  to  draw  a  sein  in  the 
river  near  Knox's  mills.  The  Yankees  concluded 
that  the  Rappahannock  was  being  crossed  by  the 
Confederate  army,  and  at  once  the  heavens  were 
illuminated  with  their  rockets — the  picket  lines 
were  doubled,  and  their  whole  camp  gave  every 
indication  of  fearful  apprehension.  Fallen  Joe, 
however,  was  permitted  to  pass  the  night  unmo 
lested  by  the  sein-haulers." 

These  alarms,  far  down  on  the  left,  were  a  part 
of  General  Lee's  plans.  "With  their  resources 
well-nigh  exhausted,  and  hard  pressed  to  subsist 
the  army  in  the  impoverished  country  where  it 
had  passed  the  winter,  the  authorities  at  Rich 
mond  again  and  again  demanded  of  Lee  to  assume 
the  offensive.  Hooker's  failure  was  accepted  as 
the  dawning  of  the  propitious  hour  for  such  an 


GENERAL    HENRY    BAXTER.  211 

undertaking,  and  behind  the  hills,  across  the 
narrow  channel,  the  Southern  leader  was  mar 
shaling  his  legions  for  the  invasion  of  the  Xorth. 

O  O 

The  strength  of  the  First  Corps  was  greatly 
reduced  by  the  discharge  of  troops  whose  term 
of  enlistment  had  expired,  compelling  a  reorgan 
ization  of  its  divisions  and  several  of  its  brigades. 

o 

After  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg,  General  Taylor 
resigned  the  command  of  the  Third  Brigade,  and 
retired  from  the  service.  During  the  Chancellor- 
ville  campaign,  it  was  under  command  of  Colonel 
Leonard,  of  the  Thirteenth  Massachusetts.  In 
the  reorganizing  of  Robinson's  Division,  the 

O  £5 

three  brigades  that  formerly  composed  it  were 
consolidated  into  two  brigades.  The  Thir 
teenth  Massachusetts,  Orie-hundred-and-fourth 
New  York,  One-hundred-and-seventh  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  Sixteenth  Maine,  formed  the  First 
Brigade,  under  command  of  General  Paul.  The 
Eleventh,  Eighty-eighth,  and  Ninetieth  Penn 
sylvania  Regiments,  and  the  Ninth  and  Ninety- 
seventh  New  York  Regiments,  formed  the  Second 
Brigade,  under  command  of  Gen.  Henry  Baxter. 
General  Baxter  was  at  the  head  of  the  Seventh 
Michigan  Regiment  in  its  charge  across  the  Rap- 
pahannock  in  pontoon  boats,  on  the  12th  of  De 
cember,  driving  away  the  rebel  sharp-shooters, 
that  for  half  a  day  retarded  the  laying  of  Sum- 
ner's  bridges.  The  gallant  feat  won  for  him  a 
brigadier's  star.  Baxter's  fame  had  preceded 


212  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

him,  and  when  he  took  charge  of  the  brigade, 
the  men  were  as  proud  of  their  new  general  as 
the  general  himself  was  proud  of  his  new  com 
mand. 

The  Eleventh  began  its  march  northward  with 
two  hundred  and  eighty-eight  men,  scarcely  a 
third  of  the  number  with  which  it  had  marched 
southward  a  year  before.  Some  of  its  numerous 
wounded  had  recovered  and  were  again  in  their 
places;  while  many  others,  including  the  two 
subordinate  field  officers,  were  still  absent. 

The  vacancies  occasioned  among  the  line  offi 
cers,  by  death  or  resignation,  were  mostly  filled. 
Sergeant-major  Arthur  F.  Small  was  promoted 
to  adjutant;  and  Commissary-sergeant  Allen  S. 
Jacobs  to  be  quartermaster.  Doctor  W.  F.  Os- 
borne,  of  Westmoreland  County,  Pennsylvania, 
had  been  assigned  to  the  regiment  as  second  as 
sistant  surgeon,  vice  Doctor  Morris  resigned,  be 
fore  we  left  Fletcher  chapel.  The  time  of  service 
of  the  132d  Pennsylvania  Regiment  having  ex 
pired,  Doctor  Anawalt  was  returned  to  the 
Eleventh  as  surgeon. 

FRIDAY,  June  12. — Between  five  and  six  o'clock 
this  morning,  the  Second  Brigade  of  the  First 
Corps  moved  out  of  camp.  Three  hearty  cheers 
were  given  for  General  Hooker  as  we  passed 
army  headquarters.  We  are  now  bivouacked  at 
Deep  Run  mill,  on  the  road  leading  to  Warren- 
ton,  twenty-two  miles  from  the  point  of  starting. 


MARCHING    NORTHWARD.  213 

The  heat  of  the  day  was  oppressive;  and  what 
with  their  kuapsacks  on  their  hacks,  and  the 
dust  settled  in  hair  and  eyebrows,  the  men  looked 
like  a  regiment  of  octogenarians,  instead  of  the 
stalwart  Western  hoys  that  they  are.  That  part 
of  the  road  lying  between  Falmouth  and  Hart- 
wood  church  was  passed  over  last  spring  in  our 
march  from  Manassas  to  Fredericksburg.  Deep 
Run  mill  is  a  large  stone  building  half  a  century 
old.  The  flood-gates  are  torn  away,  and  the 
burrs  removed,  to  prevent  its  use  by  the  Yan 
kees. 

SATURDAY,  June  13. — It  was  nearly  seven 
o'clock  this  morning  before  the  column  got  fairly 
started;  and  although  the  rests  were  frequent, 
the  march  was  full  of  weariness.  We  are  halted 
for  the  night  in  a  thick  woods  between  the  Rap- 
pahannock  and  Bealton  Station,  on  the  Orange 
and  Alexandria  Railroad.  A  large  rebel  force  is 
reported  to  be  concentrating  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  river,  and  the  troops  are  going  into  bivouac 
in  line  of  battle.  During  last  August,  while  the 
Eleventh  was  engaged  at  the  bridge  just  below, 
holding  the  rebel  advance  in  check,  Jackson's 
forces  passed  to  the  right,  and  made  their  appear 
ance  on  the  plains  of  Manassas.  Many  express 
themselves  to-night  that  the  same  programme  is 
to  be  enacted ;  and  that  the  annual  battle  of 
Bull  Run  will  be  fought  some  weeks  earlier. 

MONDAY  MORNING,  June  15. — Three  days  ago 


214  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

we  were  eight  miles  below  Fredericksburg,  on 
the  Rappahannock ;  this  morning  the  First  Corps 
is  encamped  at  Manassas.  General  Halleckonce 
said  that  the  great  want  of  the  Army  of  the  Po 
tomac  was  legs.  He  will  be  glad  to  learn  that 
we  have  come  into  possession  of  those  valuable 
appendages,  and  know  how  to  use  them.  The 
march  of  yesterday,  if  not  the  longest  in  miles, 
was  the  longest  in  hours  we  have  ever  made. 
Leaving  the  woods  near  Bealton  at  nine  o'clock 
A.M.,  Sabbath,  the  regiment  halted  this  morning 
at  four  o'clock,  marching  nineteen  hours,  with 
only  one  hour's  rest  at  Broad  Run.  From  Beal 
ton  to  Bristow  the  route  was  new  to  the  Eleventh, 
and  made  up  the  broken  link  in  the  chain  of 
inarches  through  this  part  of  Virginia  We  have 
now  traversed  almost  every  foot  of  its  territory 
from  the  Potomac  to  the  Shenandoah,  east  and 
west,  and  from  Alexandria  to  the  Rapidan,  north 
and  south. 

MONDAY  EVENING. — Shortly  after  eight  o'clock 
this  morning  the  march  was  resumed  across  Ma 
nassas  plains  toward  Centerville.  Every  spot  was 
familiar,  for  no  less  than  six  different  times  have 
we  encamped  on  this  ground.  Manassas  never 
looked  so  beautiful  as  now,  clothed  in  the  rich 
verdure  of  early  summer.  But  although  the 
green  grass  covers  up  many  a  foul  spot,  and  hides 
from  view  the  graves,  and  in  some  instances  the 
unburied  bones  of  our  companions,  nothing  can 


ACROSS    MANASSAS    PLAINS.  215 

wipe  out  the  memory  of  the  terrible  conflicts 
that  will  always  be  associated  with  this  sanguinary 
battle-field.  To-night  we  are  encamped  on  the 
hights  of  Centerville. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  STRATEGY  OF  HOOKER  AND  LEE. 

"The  service  required  of  the  First  Corps  will 
be  of  such  a  nature  that  all  unnecessary  baggage 
must  be  left  behind,"  read  the  order  of  General 
Hooker  the  day  before  the  corps  left  the  Rappa- 
hannock. 

When  General  Lee  commenced  moving  it 
wras  uncertain  whether  he  was  making  for  the 
Shenandoah  Valley  or  the  Orange  and  Alexandria 
Railroad,  by  way  of  Thoroughfare  Gap.  In  either 
event,  the  possession  of  Manassas  and  the  hights 
of  Centerville  was  of  vast  moment  to  the  Fed 
eral  commander,  and  hence  the  rapid  marching 
of  the  First  Corps  to  those  points.  At  the  same 
time  of  our  bivouac  at  Centerville,  the  head 
of  the  rebel  column  reached  the  vicinity  of  Win 
chester,  and  from  all  the  signal  stations  came  the 
same  report — that  Lee  was  concentrating  a  large 
army  in  the  Valley.  Still,  the  real  object  of  the 


216  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

m 

Confederate  commander  did  not  clearly  appear, 
arid  then  commenced  that  series  of  strategic  op 
erations  between  Lee  and  Hooker  that  reflected 
such  credit  upon  the  latter. 

In  less  than  one  week  all  the  corps  of  the  Po 
tomac  Army  were  massed  in  the  region  of  Fair 
fax  Court  House.  The  Blue  Ridge  rose  between 
the  two  opposing  generals,  hiding  from  each 
the  movements  of  the  other.  The  wily  Lee,  who 
marched  so  rapidly  at  the  first,  halted  his  main 
column  under  cover  of  the  mountain,  sending 
only  a  part  of  his  forces  to  ravage  the  shores  of 
the  Potomac.  He  had  expected  to  see  General 
Hooker,  in  his  eagerness  to  protect  the  threat 
ened  border,  cross  his  forces  into  Maryland,  and 
leave  open  all  the  easy  approaches  to  the  national 
capital.  But  the  brave  Pleasanton,  with  his  fear 
less  troopers,  penetrated  the  gaps  of  the  Blue 
Ridge,  and  revealed  the  designs  of  the  enemy. 

While  the  First  Corps  was  halted  at  Guilford 
Station,  on  the  London  and  Hampshire  Railroad, 
Pleasanton's  cavalry  was  approaching  Aldie  Gap. 
The  outline  of  the  country  stretching  away  to 
ward  the  Blue  Ridge  was  such  that,  occupied  by 
the  enemy,  he  could  hang  upon  our  flank  and 
rear,  observe  all  our  movements,  and  harass  us 
at  every  step.  General  Stuart  made  a  march  of 
forty  miles  in  one  day  to  get  into  this  territory, 
and  on  the  morning  of  June  21st,  in  the  very 
act  of  passing  through  Aldie,  encountered  Pleas- 


THE    GUERRILLA    MOSEBY.  217 

anton.  The  fight  was  long  and  severe;  but  the 
rebels  were  finally  driven  back,  and  retreated 
through  Middleburg.  Lee's  strategy  was  now  at 
an  end;  and  following  in  the  wake  of  Swell's 
Corps,  his  whole  army  invaded  Maryland  and 
Pennsylvania. 

On  the  march  from  Centerville  to  Guilford 
Station,  we  had  an  instance  of  the  daring  ex 
ploits  of  the  guerrilla  Moseby,  within  whose  do 
mains  we  then  found  ourselves.  Two  clerks, 
belonging  to  the  brigade  commissary,  rode  oft 
some  distance  from  the  troops  to  procure  a 
supply  of  forage  for  the  horses.  Scarcely  had 
they  left  the  road  over  which  our  wagon  train 
was  passing,  on  their  way  to  a  farm-house  across 
the  fields,  when,  in  going  through  a  narrow  strip 
of  woods,  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  Moseby. 
The  party,  consisting  of  the  guerrilla  chief  and 
a  dozen  men  dressed  in  Federal  uniform,  were 
mistaken  for  a  squad  of  our  own  cavalry.  Re 
lieving  the  clerks  of  the  pistols  they  always  car 
ried  in  their  belts,  but  never  used,  the  prisoners 
were  ordered  to  remain  seated  on  their  horses, 
and  observe  perfect  quiet.  In  a  little  while, 
placing  our  boys  in  the  center  of  the  squad,  and 
intimating  what  would  be  the  result  in  case  of 
the  slightest  alarm,  the  guerrillas  boldly  galloped 
out  into  the  road,  riding  some  distance  along 
with  the  train,  and  again  taking  to  the  woods  on 
the  opposite  iiank. 

10 


218  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

Excepting  to  disarm  them,  not  the  slightest  in 
dignities  had  thus  far  been  offered,  and  Moseby 
seemed  determined  to  convince  his  captives  not 
only  in  words,  but  by  actions,  that  he  was  not 
the  style  of  person  the  Yankees  represented  him. 

"Your  papers  speak  of  us  as  guerrillas,  and 
every  murder  committed  between  the  Potomac 
and  the  Blue  Ridge  is  blamed  on  me  or  some  of 
my  men.  These  charges  are  all  false.  We  are 
an  independent  command,  to  be  sure,  but  a  part 
of  the  Confederate  cavalry,  and  only  kill  when 
we  cannot  capture,  just  as  your  men  do.  It  is 
my  business  now  to  get  all  the  information  I  can 
of  your  movements,  and  that  is  what  I  have  been 
doing  to-day.  We  have  gone  all  along  your 
trains,  and  from  the  marks  on  the  wagons,  and 
conversation  with  the  drivers,  I  know  how 
many  corps  are  moving  in  this  direction,  and 
where  you  will  probably  bivouac  to-night.  If 
any  horses  should  stray  away  from  camp,  or  men 
either,  for  that  matter,  they  may  be  among  the 
missing  in  the  morning." 

Riding  up  to  a  house,  partly  hid  in  an  apple 
orchard,  another  source  from  which  Moseby 
derived  his  information  was  discovered.  The 
farmer  met  him  at  the  gate  with  every  expres 
sion  of  hearty  welcome.  Two  Yankee  soldiers 
had  been  there  an  hour  before,  to  \\hom  he  had 
given  dinner,  in  the  hope  of  getting  some  news 
out  of  them.  "But  they  were  a  stupid  pair/' 


PARTING    WITH    VIRGINIA.  219 

said  the  farmer,  "and  only  knew  that  they  be 
longed  to  the  Eleventh  Corps." 

Moseby  retained  his  prisoners  until  next  morn 
ing,  and  then  released  them  on  parole.  If  he 
had  not  kept  their  horses,  thus  compelling  the 
clerks  to  walk  ten  or  twelve  miles  to  overtake 
the  brigade,  so  far  as  their  experience  went,  the 
partisan  chief  might  have  received  more  credit 
for  cleverness  than  he  deserved. 

SATURDAY  MORNING,  June  27. — Although  or 
ders  to  be  ready  to  move  were  received  on  Wed 
nesday,  it  was  not  until  10  o'clock  Thursday  that 
we  broke  up  camp  at  Guilford  Station.  A  march 
of  six  or  eight  miles  brought  us  to  Edward's 
Ferry,  on  the  Potomac.  Two  o'clock  we  stood 
on  the  shores  of  Maryland.  Not  one  single  regret 
pained  our  hearts  at  parting  with  Virginia,  and 
we  shall  be  glad  never  again  to  set  foot  on  her 
disloyal  soil. 

While  the  troops  were  crossing,  rode  up  the 
river  to  Ball's  Bluff',  the  scene  of  that  wicked 
blunder  in  which  the  gallant  California  Senator 

O 

(Colonel  Baker)  and  nine  hundred  men  were  sac 
rificed  to  incompetency  or  treason.  Passing 
through  Poolsville,  the  Eleventh  bivouacked  at 
night  near  the  little  town  of  Barnesville. 

Friday  morning  the  troops  were  again  on  the 
march,  moving  toward  Frederick  City.  The 
roads  were  in  the  worst  possible  condition,  soft 
and  slippery.  But  there  were  many  points  of  spe- 


220  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

cial  interest  that  helped,  in  no  small  degree,  to 
vary  the  weariness  of  the  way.  First  was  the 
Sugar  Loaf  Mountain,  whose  graceful  peak  was 
in  full  sight  almost  from  the  moment  of  leaving 
Guilford  Station.  It  must  be  said,  however,  that 
it  had  a  grander  view  in  the  distance  than  when 
we  came  to  climb  up  its  steep  rocky  sides.  After 
a  march  of  two  or  three  miles  along  the  bank  of 
Monocacy  Creek,  the  troops  began  the  ascent  of 
the  Ivittoctan  Mountain.  Behind  us  was  the 
Sugar  Loaf  and  the  country  through  which  we 
had  passed.  In  front  were  the  South  Mountain 
range,  and  the  gap  at  Harper's  Ferry,  where  the 
waters  of  the  Potomac  and  the  Shenandoah  meet 
and  mingle  into  one.  At  our  feet  lay  Pleasant 
Valley,  intersected  by  fields  of  ripening  grain 
and  green,  waving  corn,  looking  in  the  distance 
like  a  vast  garden.  The  brigade  halted  last 
night  outside  the  village  of  Jefferson.  In  com 
pany  with  Chaplain  Howell,  of  the  Ninetieth, 
found  lodgings  in  the  town,  where  we  are  now 
waiting  the  coming  of  the  troops. 

SATURDAY  EVENING. — It  was  eight  o'clock  this 
morning  before  Baxter's  Brigade,  in  rear  of  the 
Division,  left  Jefferson.  The  route  was  up  the 
valley  toward  Middletown.  Passing  through  the 
village,  we  are  now  in  camp  in  sight  of  Mount 
Tabor  Church,  at  the  foot  of  South  Mountain, 
near  where  the  Eleventh  marched  up  to  take 
part  in  the  engagement  of  14th  September  last. 


FIRST    CORPS    AT    EMMETTSBURG.  221 

MONDAY,  June  20. — There  was  such  a  falling 
oft'  of  startling  rumors  yesterday,  and  everything 
wore  an  aspect  so  peaceful  and  Sabbath-like, 
that  every  one  imagined,  holding  as  we  did  all  the 
passes  of  South  Mountain,  and  guarding  all  the 
avenues  leading  to  Baltimore  and  Washington, 
that  the  army  might  rest  some  days  in  Pleasant 
Valley.  But  the  call  of  the  bugle  dispelled  the 
delusion;  and  at  the  hour  we  had  appointed  to 
hold  religious  services,  the  Eleventh  marched 
to  Frederick.  The  distance  was  only  com 
pleted  with  the  last  ray  of  daylight;  and  yet  so 
charming  was  the  weather,  and  in  such  fine 
spirits  were  the  troops,  that  the  eight  miles  were 
made  with  scarcely  more  apparent  fatigue  than 
has  often  been  seen  in  a  simple  change  of 
camp. 

At  four  o'clock  this  morning  the  column  was 
again  in  motion,  moving  toward  Emmettsburg. 
Everywhere  along  the  route  the  troops  were 
greeted  with  demonstrations  of  delight.  It  was 
so  new  to  us,  who  had  always  been  received  with 
frowns,  or  a  look  of  contempt,  or  in  sullen  silence, 
to  be  met  with  smiles  of  welcome,  that  the  en 
thusiasm  of  the  citizen  was  communicated  to  the 
soldier,  and  for  miles  a  prolonged  cheer  rose 
from  the  moving  ranks.  Late  in  the  afternoon, 
the  First  Corps  entered  Emmettsburg.  One  week 
ago,  the  finest  half  of  the  town  was  destroyed 
by  fire,  certainly  the  work  of  an  incendiary— 
19* 


222  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

but  whether  a  rebel  spy,  or  a  home  rebel  sympa 
thizer,  does  not  yet  appear. 

Two  miles  from  town  we  passed  the  Catholic 
College  of  Mount  St.  Mary,  a  large,  imposing 
stone  edifice,  at  the  foot  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  and 
surrounded  by  everything  in  nature  to  make  it 
attractive.  Taking  advantage  of  a  moment's 
halt,  a  party  of  three  or  four  rode  through  the 
capacious  gateway,  and  up  to  the  main  entrance 
of  the  building.  We  were  cordially  received  by 
the  president,  and  escorted  through  the  several 
parts  of  the  college.  With  characteristic  hospi 
tality,  a  collation  was  in  preparation  for  us,  but 
the  column  had  moved  on,  and  we  were  obliged 
to  decline.  Immediately  in  the  town  are  the 
buildings  and  extensive  grounds  of  the  Sisterhood 
of  St.  Joseph,  the  headquarters  of  the  Sisters  of 
Charity  in  the  United  States.  The  regiment  is 
nowT  bivouacked  a  short  distance  to  the  west  of 
Emmettsburg,  on  the  road  leading  to  Cash  town. 


VII. 

CHAPTER  I. 

HOOKER    DISPLACED    BY    MEADE. 

WHILE  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  resting 
under  the  shadow  of  South  Mountain,  on  the 
28th  of  June,  the  supreme  command  of  its  forces 
passed  from  General  Hooker  into  the  hands  of 
General  George  G.  Meade. 

Those  were  days  when  official  jealousies  and 
personal  animosities — home-bred  traitors — great 
ly  interfered  with  the  efficiency  of  the  army. 
There  had  never  been  anything  but  bad  blood 
between  Hooker  and  General  Halleck.  "  If  the 
general-iu-chief  had  been  in  the  rebel  interest," 
said  Hooker,  "  it  would  have  been  impossible  for 
him  to  have  added  to  the  embarrassment  he 
caused  me,  from  the  moment  I  took  command 
of  the  Potomac  Army." 

A  garrison  of  ten  thousand  men  had  been 
placed  at  Harper's  Ferry.  There  was  nothing 
for  them  to  do;  they  covered  no  ford  of  the  river, 
nor  were  they  of  the  slightest  defense  to  the 
Cumberland  Valley.  Having  sent  the  First, 

(  223  ) 


224  STORY   OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

Third,  and  Eleventh  Corps  to  Middletown,  on 
the  flank  of  Lee,  Hooker  proposed,  with  the 
Twelfth  Corps  and  the  force  at  Harper's  Ferry, 
to  fall  upon  the  rebel  rear,  destroy  the  bridges 
Lee  might  have  laid  across  the  Potomac,  and  in 
tercept  the  commerce  Ewell  had  established  in 
grain,  horses,  and  cattle,  which  he  was  sending 
into  Virginia  in  large  amounts.  But  Halleck 
refused  to  allow  the  withdrawal  of  those  troops, 
and  General  Hooker  asked  to  be  relieved ;  de 
claring  that  he  would  rather  go  into  the  ranks 
as  a  soldier,  than  to  stand  at  the  head  of  the 
army  and  be  thwarted  at  a  time  when  it  was 
necessary  for  every  man  to  be  used  for  the  safety 
of  the  country  and  the  destruction  of  the  rebels. 

On  the  morning  of  June  30th,  leaving  our  bi 
vouac  near  Emmettsburg,  and  tiling  out  into  the 
road  to  Gettysburg,  the  First  Corps  crossed  from 
Maryland  into  Pennsylvania,  the  Eleventh  Regi 
ment  halting  near  the  house  of  James  Wolf  red. 
Two  miles  from  Emmettsburg,  an  old  tree,  grow 
ing  in  a  fence  corner,  was  pointed  out  as  marking 
the  State  line.  As  the  three  Pennsylvania  regi 
ments  of  the  Second  Brigade  passed  that  bound 
ary,  a  new  class  of  emotions  was  awakened  in 
every  heart,  that  could  only  find  expression  in 
the  hearty  cheers  there  given  for  the  good  old 
State.  * 

The  order  announcing  the  change  of  com 
mander  was  here  read  to  the  troops.  Cut  off  from 


IMPRESSION    UPON    THE    ARMY.  225 

all  sources  of  information,  the  movements  of  the 
rebels  only  came  to  us  in  vague  and  unreliable 
rumors.  Xow  the  reports  were  more  explicit. 
Lee  had  indeed  penetrated  far  into  the  interior 
of  Pennsylvania.  Carlisle  and  York  were  already 
in  possession  of  his  forces,  and  a  large  body  was 
marching  against  Harrisburg.  It  was  a  perilous 
adventure,  in  such  a  moment  as  that,  when  every 
man  felt  the  impending  crisis,  to  remove  from 
the  command  one  who  knew  so  well  not  only 
the  qualities  of  his  own  army,  but  the  designs 
and  purposes  of  the  enemy,  and  supersede  him 
by  another  who  had  all  that  to  learn. 

Unaccounted  for,  and  to  them  unaccountable, 
the  removal  of  General  Hooker  was  accepted  by 
the  rank  and  file  as  the  expression  of  doubt  and 
uncertainty,  in  the  high  places  of  government, 
as  to  the  issue  before  us ;  and  with  an  army  less 
patriotic  or  less  intelligent,  the  effect  would  have 
been  full  of  disaster.  But  there  comes  an  hour, 
in  the  experience  of  every  true  soldier,  when  he 
feels  that  victory  depends  not  so  much  upon  the 
commander  as  on  himself — on  his  own  fidelity 
to  duty.  Such  an  hour  came  to  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  and  each  man  was  nerved  for  the 
work  before  him. 

The  right  wing  of  the  army,  consisting  of  the 
First  and  Eleventh  Corps,  under  command  of 
General  Reynolds,  continued  its  leisurely  move 
ment  toward  Gettysburg.  There  was  nothing 


226  STORY    OF   THE    EEGIMENT. 

in  the  clear  blue  sky  of  that  first  morning  in 
July  to  indicate  what  the  day  would  bring  forth. 
If  anything  could  suggest  peaceful  thoughts  to 
armed  men,  it  was  the  country  through  which 
we  were  passing,  so  like  a  paradise  it  seemed  to 
the  forsaken  regions  south  of  the  Potomac,  al 
most  every  acre  of  which  had  been  furrowed  by 
battle,  or  trenched  for  the  burial  of  the  dead. 
With  what  hearty  State  pride  each  one  beheld 
the  lofty  mountains  —  the  broad  plains  —  the 
flowering  valleys  of  Pennsylvania.  Xo  wonder 
the  Southern  soldier,  remembering  to  what  he 
must  return,  was  loathe  to  leave  those  fair  fields. 

While  General  Reynolds  was  approaching  the 
town,  Hill's  Corps,  of  the  rebel  army,  was  mov 
ing  in  the  same  direction  from  Chambersburg, 
and  Early's  and  Swell's  Corps  from  Carlisle  and 
York.  Buford's  cavalry  occupied  Gettysburg 
the  last  day  of  June,  and  on  the  first  of  the  new 
month,  in  a  reconnoissance  out  on  the  Chambers- 
burg  pike,  encountered  Heath's  Division  of  the 
rebel  advance. 

Robinson's  Division  was  three  miles  to  the  rear 
when  the  first  artillery  report  broke  the  stillness 
of  the  morning  air,  and  rolled  away  in  echoes 
among  the  surrounding  hills.  How  that  first 
gun  —  the  invariable  prelude  to  battle —  always 
startles  the  nerves,  and  sends  the  heart  on  a 
double-quick  motion!  But  as  cannon  answers 
to  cannon,  the  nerves  become  accustomed  to  the 


ENEMY  IN  FRONT  OF  GETTYSBURG.     227 

unusual  sound,  and  the  heart  comes  back  again 
to  its  steady  beat. 

It  was  not  known  that  a  considerable  force  of 
the  enemy  was  in  our  immediate  vicinity;  and 
the  party  in  front  of  the  cavalry  was  regarded  as 
an  advance  guard,  sent  forward  to  watch  the 
movements  of  the  Federal  commander.  Pres 
ently  long  lines  of  infantry  began  to  develop 
themselves,  and  Buford  sent  word  that  the 
enemy  was  in  heavy  force.  Wadsworth's  Divi 
sion  of  the  First  Corps  was  in  the  advance,  then 
came  Donbleday,  and  last  Robinson.  Placing 
himself  at  the  head  of  Wadsworth's  column, 
General  Reynolds  pushed  rapidly  forward,  mov 
ing  across  the  fields  to  the  left  of  the  Emmetts- 
burg  road  and  taking  position  on  Seminary 
Ridge,  half  a  mile  west  of  Gettysburg. 

There  were  other  eyes  than  those  of  General 
Reynolds  that  saw  the  advantages  of  that  com 
manding  ridge.  Scarcely  had  our  troops  reached 
the  ground,  when  Heath's  Division,  having  driven 
back  the  cavalry,  turned  upon  AVadsworth,  and 
in  desperate  charges  vainly  endeavored  to  drive 
him  from  the  ridge.  In  the  first  volley  from 
the  rebel  line  General  Reynolds  fell  mortally 
wounded,  dying  in  the  arms  of  his  attendants 
before  he  could  be  removed  from  the  field. 

The  firing  of  the  first  gun  in  front  closed  up 
the  straggling  ranks  of  the  rear  division.  Aid- 
de-camps  were  seen  riding  along  the  column, 


*2'28  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

delivering  orders  to    the    several    commanders, 
and  urging*  forward  the  troops. 

"Step  out  lively,  men,"  said  one.  ''General 
Reynolds  has  heen  wounded,  and  every  man  is 
needed  at  the  front." 

Those  were  troops  not  to  be  disheartened  by 
disaster,  and  as  they  neared  the  battle-field,  a 
firmer  and  a  steadier  step  struck  the  ground. 

Nobly  did  the  First  Division  maintain  its  lines, 
inflicting  heavy  loss  upon  the  rebels,  and  before 
its  supports  came  up  capturing  General  Archer 
and  his  entire  brigade.  The  death  of  General 
Reynolds  placed  General  Doubleday  in  com 
mand  of  the  First  Corps  and  General  Howard 
in  command  of  the  right  wing  of  the  army. 
Strengthening  Wadsworth's  line  with  the  Third 
Division,  Robinson's  Division  was  held  in  reserve 
behind  Seminary  Ridge.  While  the  troops  of 
the  First  Corps  were  thus  disposed,  the  Eleventh 
Corps  marched  through  the  town  and  formed  on 
the  right.  The  outlines  of  the  battle  of  Gettys 
burg  at  this  moment  began  to  be  seen.  Hill  was 
in  front  of  the  First  Corps  with  thirty  thousand 
men,  and  Ewell  was  approaching  our  right  flank 
with  thirty  thousand  more. 

"Tell  Doubleday  to  fight  on  the  left,  and  I 
will  hold  on  to  the  right,"  said  General  Howard 
to  Buford's  adjutant,  who  rode  up  to  tell  him  of 
the  advance  of  Ewell. 

Robinson  was  getting  into  position  near  the 
Seminary  when  Doubleday  observed  a  dangerous 


BATTLE    OF    FIRST    OF    JULY.  229 

gap  between  himself  and  Howard.  The  Eleventh 
Pennsylvania  and  the  Ninety-seventh  New  York 
were  at  once  pushed  forward  some  distance  be 
yond  the  railroad  embankment  to  occupy  the 
space.  A  little  later,  the  rest  of  the  Second 
Brigade  was  sent  forward,  and  at  last  the  whole 
division.  Not  a  single  regiment  remained  in  re 
serve,  and  from  left  to  right  the  line  was  envel 
oped  in  fire  and  smoke. 

The  enemy  was  striking  his  heaviest  blows  on 
the  left,  and  changing  front,  Robinson  took  posi 
tion  on  a  ridge  running  parallel  with  Seminary 
Ridge,  four  or  five  hundred  yards  further  west. 
It  was  now  noon,  and  the  battle  grew  fiercer  with 
every  hour.  Gallantly  the  rebels  came  against 
our  front,  and  as  gallantly  were  they  driven 
back. 

"We  are  Pennsylvanians,  and  have  come  here 
to  stay,"  was  the  shout  that  followed  every  re 
pulse  of  the  enemy. 

There  seemed  to  be  no  end  to  those  Southern 
ranks,  as  there  was  no  exhausting  the  persistent 
courage  with  which  they  continued  the  attack. 
Quick  as  one  line  was  swept  away  another  and  a 
stronger  line  took  its  place.  Baxter  had  just 
repulsed  one  of  the  enemy's  severest  assaults, 
when  a  North  Carolina  brigade  veered  round  for 

O 

a  charge  on  our  right  fiank.  The  Ninetieth  Penn 
sylvania  and  the  Twelfth  Massachusetts  met  the 
North  Carolinians  with  a  musketry  fire  that 

20 


230  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

doubled  up  their  ranks  and  sent  them  streaming 
back  toward  the  left  in  defenseless  confusion.  It 
was  our  time  to  charge;  and  rushing  upon  those 
broken  ranks  with  the  spirit  of  men  who  had 
everything  at  stake,  the  Eleventh  Pennsylvania 
and  .Ninety-seventh  New  York  brought  back 
with  them  four  hundred  prisoners,  and  the  flag 
of  the  Twenty-third  North  Carolina  Regiment. 

The  record  of  one  hour  on  that  ridge  is  the 
record  of  the  three  hours  the  troops  maintained 
their  position.  Xow  repelling  the  fierce  attacks 
of  a  greatly  superior  force  in  front;  now  chang 
ing  to  the  right  and  then  again  to  the  left ;  and 
when  the  enemy's  ranks  were  broken,  charging 
upon  him,  capturing  his  colors  and  his  men. 
Shot  and  shell  were  every  moment  lessening  the 
number.  But  the  brave  fellows  were  fighting  on 
their  native  soil ;  they  had  come  there  to  stay,  and 
closing  up  the  gaps,  they  fought  on.  AVhen  the 
ammunition  began  to  fail,  wounded  men,  carried 
from  the  field,  passed  their  cartridge-boxes  to 
the  front.  More  than  one  volley  that  shattered 
through  those  rebel  lines  was  supplied  from  the 
unexpended  powder  and  ball  taken  from  the  per 
sons  of  dead  comrades. 

Toward  three  o'clock  the  First  Brigade  moved 
to  the  front.  The  battle  was  now  raging  with 
greater  fury  than  ever,  and  the  Eleventh  was 
hurried  to  the  railroad  embankment,  a  short  dis 
tance  to  the  left,  to  support  Stewart's  Battery. 


BATTLE    OF    FIRST    OF    JULY.  231 

The  enemy,  coming  from  the  direction  of  Cham- 
bersburg,  was  gradually  extending  his  line  on 
the  left  so  as  nearly  to  touch  the  Emmettsburg 
pike.  For  six  hours  the  First  Corps,  numbering 
in  all  only  eight  thousand  men,  had  contended 
with  Hill's  Corps,  full  thirty  thousand  strong. 
A  new  danger  now  threatened  them.  The 
Eleventh  Corps,  that  for  some  time  gallantly 
held  its  own,  suddenly  broke,  precipitating 
E well's  Corps  upon  our  right  flank.  Neither 
courage  nor  valor  could  avail  against  such  fearful 
odds.  Overwhelmed  in  front,  and  sorely  pressed 
on  either  flank,  the  Union  lines  gave  way  in  de 
feat  and  retreated  through  Gettysburg  to  Cem 
etery  Hill. 

Early  in  the  day  the  surgeons  had  taken  pos 
session  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  near  the  center 
of  the  town,  for  Division  Hospital.  Basement 
and  auditory,  chancel  and  choir,  the  yard  in 
front,  and  the  yard  in  rear,  were  soon  crowded 
with  the  brave  men  of  the  Second  Division, 
wounded  and  dying.  We  were  going  in  and  out 
among  these,  when  the  broken  aud  flying  bat 
talions  of  the  Eleventh  Corps  came  streaming  in 
from  the  right.  It  was  a  sight  never  to  be  for 
gotten.  Crowding  through  the  streets,  and  up 
the  alleys,  and  over  fences  in  utter  ignorance  of 
whither  they  were  going,  every  moment  increased 
the  confusion  and  dismay.  To  add  to  the  terrors 
of  the  hour,  the  enemy  gained  possession  of  the 


232  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

town,  and  firing  rapidly  into  our  retreating  ranks, 
shot  and  shell  mingled  their  horrid  sounds  with 
the  groans  of  the  dying  thus  stricken  down. 

But  that  retreat  was  not  all  confusion.  The 
same  nohle  corps  that  had  so  successfully  main 
tained  its  ground  on  the  left,  when  resistance 
was  no  longer  possible,  fell  back  in  solid  phalanx. 
And  though 

"  Cannon  to  right  of  them, 
Cannon  to  left  of  them. 

Volley'd  and  thunder'd," 

shoulder  to  shoulder  they  marched,  rank  after 
rank  halting  to  fire  upon  the  advancing  foe,  and 
then  closing  up  again  with  daring  coolness. 

In  marching  through  Gettysburg  to  his  posi 
tion  on  the  right,  General  Howard  placed  Stein- 
wehr's  Division  of  the  Eleventh  Corps  in  reserve 
on  Cemetery  Hill.  Twenty-four  guns  in  position, 
with  a  strong  infantry  support,  was  not  only  a 
grateful  covering  for  our  retreating  forces,  behind 
which  they  could  reform  their  broken  lines,  but 
also  arrested  the  further  pursuit  of  the  victo 
rious  Southerner,  and  saved  the  Federal  army 
from  utter  ruin. 


REBELS    QUARTERED    AT    GETTYSBURG.          233 


CHAPTER  II. 

ARMIES    CONCENTRATED    AT    GETTYSBURG. 

DEFEATED  on  our  own  soil,  and  held  in  the 
town  a  prisoner,  never  did  the  cloud  that  hung 
over  the  nation  seem  so  dark  and  threatening  as 
at  the  close  of  that  first  day  of  July. 

Generals  Longstreet,  Ewell,  and  Hill  were  quar 
tered  in  the  village,  indicating  that  the  entire 
rebel  force  was  concentrated  at  Gettysburg.  But 
there  was  no  one  to  tell  us  of  the  Union  army, 
whether  its  other  corps  were  near  enough  to 
come  to  the  support  of  the  First  and  the  Eleventh 
holding  Cemetery  Hill.  Baltimore  and  Wash 
ington  were  within  two  days'  march ;  and  for 
anything  that  we  could  learn,  there  was  nothing 
to  prevent  the  entire  accomplishment  of  the  bold 
plan  of  invasion  marked  out  by  the  Southern 
leader. 

Elated  with  the  success  of  the  first  day,  the 
enemy  in  town  passed  the  night  in  riot  and  feast 
ing.  But  with  the  morning  of  the  2d  of  July, 
that  dawned  as  brightly  as  though  no  disaster 
had  befallen  the  cause  of  Liberty  and  Humanity, 
— came  preparations  for  renewing  the  conflict. 
Two  lines  of  battle  were  formed  in  the  streets, 
20* 


234  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

and  a  force  of  pioneers  removed  all  the  fences 
and  whatever  else  obstructed  an  easy  access  from 
one  side  of  the  town  to  the  other.  If  we  could 
have  known  that  throughout  the  night  one 
corps  after  another  had  been  arriving  until  the 
line  of  the  Federal  army  stretched  from  Round 
Top  on  the  left  to  Gulp's  Hill  on  the  right,  we 
would  have  accepted  that  bright  morning  as  the 
harbinger  of  final  success. 

General  Meade  was  laying  out  a  battle  line 
along  the  banks  of  Pipe  Creek,  ten  miles  nearer 
to  Baltimore,  where  he  intended  to  concentrate 
his  army  and  await  the  approach  of  General  Lee. 
But  the  first  gun  fired  in  front  of  Gettysburg  de 
cided  the  battle-field.  The  Third  and  Twelfth 
Corps  arrived  on  the  evening  of  July  1st ;  the 
Second  and  Fifth  between  midnight  and  day 
light  of  July  2d,  and  the  Sixth  Corps,  after  a 
march  of  thirty  miles,  between  ten  o'clock  and 
noon. 

"  Your  troops  occupy  a  strong  position  at  the 
upper  end  of  the  town,  on  the  road  leading  to 
Baltimore,"  said  a  Confederate  captain,  who 
came  into  the  hospital.  "But  I'm  sure  they 
won't  be  there  long." 

No  word  that  a  single  man  had  been  added  to 
the  brave  few  that  bore  the  brunt  of  yesterday's 
fight,  came  to  our  ears;  and  when  the  bat 
tle  commenced,  shortly  after  noon  of  Thursday, 
it  need  not  be  concealed  that  there  were  painful 


BATTLE  OF  SECOND  OF  JULY.         235 

fears  of  the  issue.  Hour  after  hour  passed  slowly 
away  without  a  moment's  lull  in  the  roar  of  ar 
tillery  and  the  rattle  of  small  arms.  Not  until 
the  darkness  of  night  closed  in  between  the  two 
armies  did  the  noise  of  battle  cease. 

The  fiercest  fighting  was  on  the  rebel  right,  in 
the  vicinity  of  Round  Top.  Heavy  columns  of 
Confederate  troops  were  seen  moving  rapidty  in 
that  direction,  and  long  lines  of  ambulances  had 
been  passing  to  and  from  their  hospitals  all  after 
noon.  The  surgeons  of  the  Eleventh,  as  indeed 
nearly  every  surgeon  belonging  to  the  Second 
Division,  with  all  the  medical  stores,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  rebels  when  they  occupied  the  town. 
We  could  not  but  think  of  our  wounded,  thus 
unprovided  for.  But  the  army, — did  it  hold  its 
position  throughout  the  fight,  or  were  its  ranks 
broken  and  scattered,  was  the  thought  that  en 
grossed  every  other. 

Later  in  the  evening  we  inquired  of  an  officer 
gathering  up  the  stragglers  that  were  hanging 
about  the  hospital,  how  the  battle  had  gone.  He 
was  not  at  all  inclined  to  be  communicative,  and 
only  in  answer  to  a  direct  question  did  he  say 
that  we  still  held  our  lines  unbroken. 

There  was  a  faint  dawning  of  hope.  We  knew 
that  nothing  less  than  the  entire  Potomac  Army 
could  resist  such  an  attack  as  had  been  made 
during  the  day  by  the  combined  Southern  forces. 
And  though  the  contest  was  still  in  doubt,  it  was 


236  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

encouraging  to  think  that  our  men  were  not  con 
tending  against  the  fearful  odds  of  the  first  day's 
battle. 

Daylight  of  Friday,  July  3d,  the  fighting  that 
had  ceased  with  the  darkness  of  the  night  before, 
was  renewed  on  the  right  of  the  line.  During 
the  previous  evening,  while  the  enemy  was 
making  his  attack  near  Round  Top,  and  the 
right  had  been  weakened  to  strengthen  the  left, 
Early's  forces  broke  through  the  lines,  and  took 
possession  of  a  part  of  our  defenses. 

The  Federal  battle-line  in  its  shape  resembled 
a  horseshoe.  It  was  the  inner  circle,  of  which 
the  rebel  line  was  the  outer  circle,  giving  to 
General  Meade  immensely  the  advantage  of 
position,  in  the  facility  with  which  reinforce 
ments  could  be  sent  from  one  part  of  the  field 
to  the  other.  The  threatened  and  broken  risrht 

O 

was  now  reinforced,  and  after  a  stubborn  resist 
ance,  maintained  from  dawn  until  eight  o'clock, 
the  rebel  troops,  that  shouted  aloud  over  the  suc 
cess  of  Thursday  night,  with  scarcely  more  than 
half  their  number  left,  fell  back  to  their  original 
line. 

Then  the  firing  ceased,  and  for  hours  there 
was  an  ominous  quiet.  It  was  not  the  quiet  of 
inaction,  but  like  that  which  precedes  the  storm. 
It  was  beyond  human  endurance  that  such  fight 
ing  as  had  characterized  the  last  two  days  could 
continue  longer.  And  there  was  a  changing  of 


BATTLE  OF  THIRD  OF  JULY.         237 

troops  and  a  moving  of  artillery  that  indicated 
preparations  for  the  final  assault. 

The  enemy  was  boastful  as  ever.  Our  taci 
turn  friend  of  the  clay  before,  accompanied  by 
one  or  two  others,  came  again  into  the  hospital. 
They  had  been  making  observations  from  the 
church  steeple,  and  the  prospect  of  success  made 
him  more  talkative. 

"  Everything,'"  said  he,  "is  going  just  as  we 
wanted  it.  Longstreet  has  succeeded  in  reaching 
a  position  for  which  he  was  manoeuvring  all  yes 
terday." 

It  was  one  o'clock  before  the  silence  that  had 
lasted  from  the  forenoon  was  in  the  least  dis 
turbed;  and  then  it  seemed  as  though  ten  thou 
sand  furies  were  let  loose  at  once.  Shells  of  all 
sizes  and  shapes  went  howling  over  the  town 
like  demons  escaped  from  perdition,  tainting  the 
very  air  with  sulphurous  smoke  and  smell. 

On  the  right  and  on  the  left,  the  enemy  had 
vainly  endeavored  to  pierce  our  lines.  This  at 
tack  in  the  center — a  point  upon  which  he  had 
concentrated  one  hundred  and  fifty  guns — was 
the  last  and  most  furious  of  all. 

"If  we  cannot  drive  them  from  that  hill  we  are 
gone,"  said  a  rebel  officer. 

From  the  spire  of  our  church  hospital  we 
watched  those  rebel  lines  moving  from  the  direc 
tion  of  Seminary  Ridge  to  the  attack  of  Ceme 
tery  Hill.  In  splendid  order  did  they  come, 


238  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

three  columns  deep,  with  every  flag  unfurled  and 
flying  in  the  breeze.  For  some  minutes  not  a 
shot  had  been  fired  from  the  Cemetery,  and  the 
daring  Southerners,  counting  largely  on  the 
effects  of  the  terrific  cannonade,  marched  with 
quick  step  across  the  several  intervening  fields. 
As  they  advanced  nearer  our  lines,  the  pro 
longed  shout  was  heard — so  different  from  our 
own  distinct  cheer — that  ever  presaged  a  rebel 
charge.  But  a  sheet  of  flame  ran  along  Ceme 
tery  Hill,  and  everything  was  hid  from  sight  by 
dust  and  smoke. 

It  was  a  fearful  afternoon.  The  wounded  men 
lying  in  the  yard,  and  able  to  help  themselves, 
crawled  into  the  house.  It  seemed  safer  there, 
because  less  distinctly  did  the  unearthly  sounds 
that  filled  the  air  strike  upon  the  ear.  The  rebel 
troops  in  line  of  battle  in  the  streets,  crouched 
closer  to  the  earth,  and  for  six  hours  we  waited 
as  men  might  be  supposed  to  wait  the  striking 
of  the  knell  of  time. 

Toward  evening,  when  the  fury  of  the  battle 
had  spent  itself,  there  was  evident  uneasiness 
among  the  Confederates.  Xo  shouts  of  victory 
ran  along  their  lines;  there  were  no  congratula 
tions  among  officers  and  men,  so  natural  if  suc 
cess  had  crowned  their  efforts. 

Details  of  men  were  employed  in  loading  into 
wagons  the  spoils  of  the  first  day's  fight.  The 
few  of  their  wounded  brought  into  the  Second 


DAWN    OF    JULY    FOURTH.  239 

'Division  Hospital  were  quietly  removed,  and  by 
nightfall,  scarcely  a  Southerner  was  to  be  seen, 
not  even  the  paroling  officer,  who  for  two  days 
had  been  busy  taking  the  name  and  rank  of 
each  prisoner. 

There  was  a  complacent  smile  on  the  face  of 
every  Federal  soldier;  and  when  one  ventured 
the  belief  that  Lee  was  preparing  to  fall  back,  a 
brave  Michigan  volunteer,  whose  right  arm  had 
been  amputated  near  the  shoulder,  held  up  the 
other,  as  he  said: 

"  This  is  all  I  have  now,  doctor,  but  for  a  vic 
tory  here,  I  would  give  this  one,  too!" 

The  signs  of  uneasiness  so  apparent  early  in 
the  evening,  increased  with  each  hour  of  the 
night.  Intense  interest  in  the  passing  events 
drove  away  every  feeling  of  weariness;  and  from 
a  window  that  overlooked  the  street  there  were 
anxious  witnesses  of  all  that  occurred.  Xow  a 
passing  wagon  train,  now  a  squadron  of  cavalry, 
and  again  the  steady  tramp  of  infantry,  arrested 
the  attention.  Xor  did  we  fail  to  observe  that 
all  these  were  moving  in  the  same  direction — not 
toward  our  lines  but  from  them. 

A  little  after  the  dawn  of  July  4th,  a  small 
party  of  Confederate  cavalry  rode  rapidly  through 
the  street,  hurrying  up,  in  an  excited  manner, 
some  lagging  footmen.  Scarcely  had  they  passed 
when  the  sharp  report  of  a  rifle  was  heard,  fol 
lowed  by  another  and  another  in  quick  succes- 


240  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

sion.  Looking  in  the  direction  from  whence  the 
firing  came,  a  good  strong  line  of  Federal  skirm 
ishers  was  seen  advancing  boldly  through  the 
street. 

One  clear,  shrill  cheer  was  given,  which,  quick 
as  thought,  was  repeated  by  a  hundred  voices. 
Instantly  houses  that  had  been  closed  for  three 
days  and  looked  deserted,  were  thrown  open, 
and  doors  and  windows  crowded  with  faces  beam 
ing  with  hope  and  joy.  Many  of  the  wounded 
in  hospital  crawled  to  the  doors  as  best  they 
could,  and  though  in  some  instances  only  in  fee 
ble  strains,  welcomed  the  morning  with  shouts 
of  victory. 


CHAPTER  III. 

GETTYSBURG    UNDER    REBEL    RULE. 

DURING  the  three  days  that  the  rebels  held  pos 
session  of  Gettysburg,  for  representatives  of  South 
ern  chivalry  they  displayed  the  grossest  ruffian 
ism.  Stores  were  broken  open  and  pillaged  of 
their  contents,  and  private  cellars  robbed  to  re 
plenish  their  knapsacks.  They  came  into  the 
hospital,  taking  from  the  wounded  men  shoes  or 
caps,  or  whatever  article  of  clothing  suited  their 


A    RAMPANT    QUARTERMASTER.  241 

fancy.  Two  soldiers  fought  over  a  sword  taken 
from  the  side  of  a  captain  too  badly  wounded  to 
offer  resistance,  and  the  dispute  was  only  settled 
by  the  interference  of  an  officer  who,  happening 
in  at  the  moment,  appropriated  the  coveted  wea 
pon  to  his  own  use. 

The  quartermaster  of  an  Alabama  brigade 
made  himself  especially  conspicuous  on  the 
streets  for  loud  talking  and  boisterous  threats  of 
firing  the  town,  and  making  of  Gettysburg  a 
second  Fredericksburg.  On  the  night  of  the  3d 
of  July,  he  invited  himself  to  lodge  in  the  house 
of  one  of  the  citizens.  True  to  the  instincts  of 
genuine  Pennsylvania  hospitality,  in  the  general 
rejoicings  of  the  following  morning,  the  host  did 
not  forget  his  guest  Two  armed  Union  soldiers 
were  shown  into  his  room,  and  a  few  minutes 
after,  the  quartermaster  was  seen  on  an  involun 
tary  march  up  street,  with  a  captor  on  either 
flank. 

It  had  often  been  a  question  with  those  of  us 
who  had  never  seen  them  put  to  the  test,  whether 
the  women  of  the  Xorth  were  as  earnest  sympa 
thizers  in  the  triumph  of  their  cause  as  those  we 
had  met  in  the  South.  At  Culpeper,  and  War- 
renton,  and  Fredericksburg,  the  devoted  atten 
tion  of  the  Southern  women  to  their  sick  and 
wounded  was  marked  and  apparent.  It  was 
something  more  than  the  natural  expression  of 
kindness  that  everywhere  dwells  in  woman's 

21 


242  STORY   OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

heart;  and  seemed  to  us  to  come  from  sympathy 
for  the  cause,  as  well  as  for  the  sufferers  in  that 
cause. 

But  no  thin  sf  we  had  ever  seen  could  exceed 

O 

the  devoted  attention  of  a  few  noble  women  of 
Gettysburg.  From  that  first  dreadful  day  to  the 
last,  they  were  angels  of  mercy,  always  coming 
at  the  auspicious  moment;  braving  alike  the 
bullets  that  were  flying  through  the  streets,  and 
the  shells  that  were  bursting  overhead,  and  the 
leering  look  and  coarse  remark  of  an  exultant 
foe,  to  carry  comfort  and  succor  to  the  wounded 
and  the  dying. 

Fears  were  entertained  that  the  rebels  might 
turn  their  guns  against  the  town,  and  at  an  early 
hour  on  the  morning  of  July  4th,  all  the  wounded 
were  removed  three  miles  to  the  rear  on  the 
Baltimore  pike,  where  general  hospitals,  well 
provided  with  medical  stores  and  rations — such 
as  the  men  greatly  needed — had  been  estab 
lished. 

Leaving  the  wounded  comfortable  in  their 
new  quarters,  we  went  in  search  of  the  regi 
ment,  from  which  we  had  been  separated  since 
the  morning  of  July  1st.  The  army  was  in  the 
same  position  it  had  maintained  during  the  last 
two  days.  Robinson's  Division  was  to  the  left 
of  Cemetery  Hill,  the  Eleventh  connecting  with 
Hays's  Division  of  the  Second  Corps. 

When   the   Eleventh   Regiment    entered   the 


FIRST    CORPS    ON    CEMETERY    HILL.  243 

battle  of  the  first  day,  on  Seminary  Ridge,  there 
were  present  two  hundred  and  twelve  officers 
and  men.  By  the  time  it  reached  Cemetery  Hill 
it  numbered  only  seventy-nine.  In  the  last  hour 
of  the  first  day's  fight,  General  Paul,  of  the  First 
Brigade,  was  severely  wounded,  as  were  also 
Colonel  Leonard,  of  the  Thirteenth  Massachu 
setts,  and  Colonel  Root,  of  the  Ninety-fourth 
Xew  York,  who  successively  succeeded  General 
Paul  in  command.  The  Eleventh  Regiment  was 
then  transferred  from  the  Second  Brigade  to  the 
First  Brigade,  and  Colonel  Coulter  placed  in 
command. 

Taking  position  on  Cemetery  Hill,  on  the 
evening  of  July  1st,  the  three  Divisions  of  the 
First  Corps  were  arranged  with  Wadsworth  on 
the  right  center,  Robinson  on  the  left  center, 
facing  toward  the  Emmettsburg  road,  and  Dou- 
bleday  in  rear  of  Robinson.  The  First  Corps 
was  under  command  of  General  Newton,  Cap 
tain  of  Engineers  in  the  three  months'  campaign, 
and  under  whose  guidance  the  army  of  General 
Patterson,  with  a  vanguard  from  the  Eleventh 
Regiment,  made  its  first  crossing  of  the  Potomac. 

Longstreet's  attack,  in  the  vicinity  of  Round 
Top,  was  on  the  afternoon  of  July  2d.  The 
lines  of  the  gallant  Third  Corps,  that  bravely 
met  the  furious  assault,  first  bending  beneath  the 
heavy  pressure  thrown  against  them,  at  last 
broke,  and  were  driven  in.  Then  a  part  of  the 


244  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

Second  Corps,  sent  to  the  help  of  the  Third,  was 
also  compelled  to  fall  back.  Generals  Hancock, 
of  the  Second,  and  Sickles,  of  the  Third  Corps, 
were  both  wounded  and  carried  from  the  field. 
General  ^Tewton  ordered  the  Second  and  Third 
Divisions  of  the  First  Corps  into  the  gap.  The 
Third  Division,  taking  the  lead,  were  ordered  to 
charge  the  rebels  still  coming  on,  and  threaten 
ing  to  turn  our  left  flank.  A  moment  later  the 
order  was  countermanded.  But  it  was  too  late. 
The  cheers  had  been  given,  and  the  ranks  were 
flying  across  the  field.  The  four  guns  lost  by 
Hancock  were  recaptured,  besides  two  other 
guns  and  a  large  number  of  prisoners  taken 
from  the  enemy. 

"When  my  men  returned,"  said  Doubleday, 
"  they  apologized  to  me  for  not  halting  at  the 
command,  and  I  accepted  the  apology." 

Friday  morning,  Robinson's  Division  was 
massed  in  rear  of  Cemetery  Hill,  ready  to  push 
forward  to  the  support  of  the  Twelfth  Corps,  then 
engaged  with  the  enemy  near  Gulp's  Hill, — 
the  same  enemy  encountered  the  previous  night 
by  Wadsworth's  Division  and  the  single  brigade 
of  General  Green,  of  the  Twelfth  Corps. 

The  troops  that  were  seen  from  the  church 
spire,  on  the  afternoon  of  July  3d,  moving  up  in 
such  splendid  order  to  the  attack  of  Cemetery 
Hill,  were  the  Divisions  of  Pickett,  Wilcox,  and 
Pettigrew. 


PICKETT'S  REBEL  CHARGE.  245 

"I  anticipate  an  attack  on  the  Cemetery  from 
the  enemy's  forces  massed  in  the  town,"  said 
General  Meade  to  Robinson.  "Place  your 
troops  so  that  if  our  line  gives  way  you  can 
strike  the  enemy  on  the  flank." 

The  division  moved  out  at  the  moment  that 
the  rebels  turned  one  hundred  and  fifty  guns 
upon  our  position.  "Never  were  troops  exposed 
to  such  a  fire  of  shot  and  shell,"  said  General 
Robinson,  "and  yet  the  movement  was  made  in 
perfect  order,  and  with  little  loss." 

For  some  minutes  our  guns  had  remained 
quiet,  the  cannoneers  laying  close  to  the  ground, 
watching  the  steady  approach  of  the  enemy,  and 
awaiting  the  word  to  send  their  double  charge 
of  grape  and  canister  into  those  compact  col 
umns.  At  last  it  came;  and  the  quick  discharges 
from  Captain  Ricketts's  Battery,  and  the  guns 
of  the  Eleventh  Corps,  tearing  great  rents  in 
Pettigrew's  ranks,  sent  them  back  a  broken  and 
disorganized  mass.  Wilcox  fared  no  better. 
But  Pickett's  Division,  living  through  all  the 
terrible  storm,  was  moving  onward  with  furious 
threatening  against  our  left. 

Robinson's  Division,  ordered  to  the  threat 
ened  point,  moved  over  ground  plowed  in  every 
square  inch  by  exploding  shells,  and  taking  po 
sition  on  the  right  of  the  Second  Corps,  the 
First  Brigade  met  the  shock  of  Pickett's  won- 
21* 


246  STORY   OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

derful  charge,  and  shared  in  the  last  repulse  of 
the  sanguine  Southerner. 

Ten  of  the  Eleventh  Regiment  were  counted 
among  the  dead  that  lay  on  Seminary  Ridge  and 
in  front  of  Cemetery  Hill.  Sixty  were  seriously 
wounded,  and  sixty  taken  prisoners.  On  the 
evacuation  of  the  town  by  the  rebels  many  of 
the  latter  returned  to  the  regiment;  while  others, 
carried  to  Richmond,  lingered  days  and  weeks 
in  Libby  prison  and  on  Belle  Island,  to  die  at 
last  of  disease  or  starvation. 

In  every  former  battle  there  w-ere  to  be  found 
those  always  ready  to  evade  duty;  men  who 
seemed  to  have  a  greater  fondness  for  the  wagon 
train  or  the  hospital  than  a  place  in  the  ranks. 
But  there  were  no  stragglers  at  Gettysburg.  "No 
soldiers  ever  fought  better,  or  inflicted  severer 
blows  upon  the  enemy."*  "2Tot  a  single  case  of 
faltering  came  to  my  notice,  "f 

As  illustrating  the  spirit  that  ruled  the  hour, 
was  a  private  in  Co.  K,  who  had  been  with  the 
Eleventh  ever  since  its  organization.  Mentally 
detective  to  a  slight  degree,  Lacock  was  never 
intrusted  with  a  gun;  but  strong  as  an  ox,  he 
was  placed  among  the  pioneers,  and  armed  with 
a  spade.  Catching  the  enthusiasm  of  the  men 
around  him,  with  his  spade  on  his  shoulder,  John 


*  Gen.  Robinson's  Report, 
f  Col.  Coulters  Report. 


A   BOLD    PIONEER.  247 

bravely  marched  with  the  regiment,  not  only  in 
the  thickest  of  the  first  day's  fight,  but  during 
the  second  and  the  third  day.  Passing  un 
harmed  through  all,  it  deserves  to  be  told  that 
the  sturdy  fellow  held  fast  to  his  spade. 

In  Pickett's  charge,  two  of  his  three  brigade 
commanders  were  killed,  and  the  other  seriously 
wounded.  Fourteen  field  officers  were  killed, 
and  only  one  out  of  the  whole  number  escaped 
unhurt.  Two-thirds  of  his  men  were  killed, 
wounded,  and  captured,  and  of  the  thirteen 
standards  that  his  regiments  carried  on  that 
afternoon,  only  two  did  not  fall  into  our  hands. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  RETREAT  AND  THE  PURSUIT. 

EMMETTSBURG,  July  6. — Yesterday  morning 
the  pickets  sent  in  word  that  the  rifle-pits  and 
breast-works  in  front  had  been  abandoned  during 
the  night,  and  that  the  rebels  were  in  full  re 
treat.  The  entire  army  was  at  once  put  in  mo 
tion.  AVe  are  bivouacked  on  Wolfred's  farm, 
near  our  resting-place  of  last  Tuesday,  thus  far 
on  the  way  in  pursuit  of  the  running  foe.  Xever 


248  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

has  this  army  come  out  of  a  battle  in  such  high 
spirits.  Every  man  is  enthusiastic  at  the  hope 
of  overtaking  Lee  before  he  crosses  the  Poto 
mac,  and  at  once  and  forever  finishing  up  the 
rebellion.  The  Eleventh  is  under  command  of 
Captain  Bierer,  of  Co.  C,  the  colonel  having 
been  left  behind  wounded. 

Our  friends  of  the  Ninety-seventh  Xew  York 
have  just  received  Colonel  Wheelock  with  three 
uproarious  cheers.  The  colonel  was  taken  pris 
oner  during  the  first  day's  fight,  but  escaped 
from  his  captors  night  before  last.  He  reports 
great  demoralization  throughout  the  enemy's 
ranks,  and  the  road  strewed  with  his  wounded 
and  stragglers.  Our  cavalry  is  following  close 
in  the  rear.  Couch  and  the  Pennsylvania  militia 
are  on  the  right  flank,  cutting  oiF  almost  every 
possible  chance  of  Lee's  escape. 

FOOT  OF  SOUTH  MOUNTAIN,  July  8. — Four 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  7th,  we  left  our 
bivouac  at  Emmettsburg,  marching  briskly  along 
the  Frederick  pike.  Crossing  Kittoctan  Mount 
ain  some  time  in  the  afternoon,  we  turned  off 
the  smooth  pike  into  a  narrow  country  road  that 
brought  us  to  another,  and,  as  we  thought,  the 
steepest  part  of  the  same  range  of  hills.  General 
Robinson  halted  the  division  on  the  mountain 
summit,  and  after  half  an  hour's  rest,  massed 
the  several  regiments  and  read  to  them  the  dis 
patches  from  Washington,  announcing  the  sur 
render  of  Yicksburg  to  Gen.  Grant. 


BULLETINS    OF    VICTORY.  249 

"Soldiers,  the  news  of  yonr  glorious  victory  at 
Gettysburg  has  been  telegraphed  to  the  West.  I 
propose  three  cheers  for  Grant  and  his  army,  feel 
ing  assured  that  while  we  shout  their  victories 
from  this  mountain  top,  they  are  shouting  our 
victory  along  the  Mississippi  Valley." 

Three  o'clock  this  morning  we  were  again  under 
march,  and  are  once  more  bivouacked  at  the  foot 
of  South  Mountain,  in  si^ht  of  Mount  Tabor 

O 

church. 

JULY  9. — Late  last  evening,  with  not  more  than 
an  hour's  rest  after  a  long  and  severe  march,  Ro 
binson's  Division  was  ordered  to  cross  South 
Mountain,  and  take  position  to  the  right  of  Turn 
er's  Gap.  General  French  has  destroyed  the 
enemy's  pontoon  bridge  at  "William sport,  and  it 
was  thought  Lee  might  make  a  desperate  effort 
to  secure  this  pass  in  order  to  protect  his  flank. 
In  this  position,  a  short  distance  below  the  old 
Mountain  House,  we  have  been  resting  all  day, 
while  one  continuous  stream  of  artillery,  infantry, 
and  cavalry  has  been  passing  along  the  National 
pike,  in  the  direction  of  Hagerstown.  Everything 
reminds  one  of  last  September.  Over  this  same 
mountain,  and  along  this  same  road,  and  with 
much  of  the  same  spirit,  we  were  then,  as  now, 
in  close  pursuit  of  the  rebels.  Let  us  hope  for 
a  more  decisive  issue. 

BENEVOLO,  July  10. — The  division  left  South 
Mountain  at  six  o'clock  this  morning.  "Wonder- 


250  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

ful  indeed  are  the  recuperative  powers  of  the 
soldier.  Footsore  and  tired,  when  the  hour  for 
bivouac  comes,  if  the  sky  should  be  overcast, 
and  rain  threaten,  he  may  take  time  to  pitch  his 
shelter  tent;  but  more  frequently,  with  only  a 
blanket  wrapped  around  him,  he  stretches  him 
self  on  the  ground,  to  sleep  soundly  and  well. 

"Weariness 

Can  snore  upon  the  flint,  where  resty  sloth 
Finds  downy  pillows  hard." 

2Text  morning  the  fatigue  of  the  former  day 
is  forgotten,  and  with  spring  and  elasticity  in  his 
step,  he  takes  his  place  in  the  ranks,  ready  to 
move  forward  at  the  word  of  command.  So  the 
few  hours  of  rest  enjoyed  by  our  boys  yester 
day  imparted  renewed  vigor,  and  when  they 
started  off  this  morning  it  was  on  a  quick  and 
steady  march.  We  passed  through  Boonsborough 
and  on  toward  Hagerstown,  following  after  the 
rebels,  with  whom  we  have  been  skirmishing  all 
day. 

Three  or  four  houses  and  a  small,  neat  church 
make  up  this  little  town  of  Benevolo.  Our  troops 
are  in  line  of  battle  about  half  a  mile  to  the  front, 
in  expectation  of  an  engagement. 

"  We  had  hard  work  to  save  our  church  from 
destruction  the  other  day,"  said  a  gentleman 
living  on  the  adjacent  lot.  "  A  party  of  rebels 
determined  to  tear  out  the  upper  corner  for  the 


'  SOUTHERN  AND  NORTHERN  VANDALS.    251 

sake  of  the  money  they  were  told  that  we  always 
place  under  the  corner-stone  of  our  churches.  I 
suppose  they  would  have  persevered  in  their  at 
tempt  had  not  our  cavalry  come  up  so  near  be 
hind  them.'" 

All  the  vandals  are  not  found  in  the  ranks  of 
the  Southern  army.  After  the  battle  of  Cedar 
Mountain  a  party  of  Irish  soldiers  visited  a  beau 
tiful  frame  church,  that  graced  the  north  slope  of 
the  hill,  and  forced  out  the  corner-stone,  not  for 
the  money  beneath  it,  but  for  the  bottle  of  whis 
key  which  they  avowed  was  always  sealed  up  in 
the  corner-stone  of  churches. 

FUNKSTOWX,  July  12. — Early  this  morning,  the 
enemy  disappearing  from  our  front  near  Bene 
volo,  the  whole  of  the  forces  moved  forward. 
Every  day  we  have  been  coming  nearer  to  the 
main  body  of  the  rebel  army.  Lee  is  now  in  line 
of  battle  across  Antietam  Creek,  with  his  left 
resting  on  Hagerstown,  and  his  right  extending 
to  Downiesville.  The  different  corps  of  the  army 
are  coming  up  in  quick  succession,  and  going  into 
position.  The  First  and  Sixth  Corps  are  on  the 
right,  the  Fifth  and  Third  Corps  in  the  center, 
and  the  Second  and  Twelfth  Corps  on  the  left. 
Buford  reports  that  the  enemy  has  a  strong  posi 
tion,  which  he  is  fortifying  and  rendering  stronger. 
Our  troops  are  in  excellent  spirits.  The  hard 
rains  of  the  two  or  three  days  past  have  swollen 
the  Potomac  almost  to  flood-hight,  and  with 


252  STORY    OF    THE    KEGLMENT. 

his  bridges  destroyed,  there  is  every  prospect 
that  the  most  of  Lee's  army  will  fall  into  our 
hands. 

The  citizens  of  this  village  are  not  a  little 
alarmed  that  the  two  hostile  armies  should  have 
met  so  near  their  doors,  while  they  look  on  with 
wonder  at  preparations  making  here  in  the  rear 
for  the  battle  in  the  front.  The  three  churches 
of  the  place  are  fitted  up  for  hospitals.  Medical 
wagons  are  unpacked,  and  the  amputating  tables 
set  up,  and  as  our  battle  line  is  in  easy  sight  on 
the  other  side  of  Antietara  Creek,  ambulances  to 
bring  off  the  wounded  are  all  in  readiness  to 
proceed  to  the  field  on  the  discharge  of  the  first 
gun. 

When  we  came  to  count  noses,  after  leaving 
Gettysburg,  Dixie,  one  of  our  colored  servantSj 
was  missing.  He  is  a  boy  about  sixteen  years 
old,  the  former  slave  of  a  doctor  living  in  Fau- 
quier  County,  Ya.,  but  always  regarded  at  head 
quarters  as  the  personal  property  of  the  chaplain. 
Dixie  was  last  seen  on  Seminary  Ridge  a  mo 
ment  before  the  troops  fell  back,  and  no  one  could 
tell  what  became  of  him.  He  was  given  up  for 
lost,  when  but  a  little  while  ago  he  walked  into 
the  hospital,  attired  in  a  full  suit  of  rebel  gray, 
even  to  the  cap.  It  is  a  wonder  that  some  of 
the  provost  guards  did  not  arrest  him  as  a  gen 
uine  u  Johnnie,"  for  he  looks  quite  as  white  as 
many  we  have  taken  from  their  ranks,  except- 


THE    LOST    FOUND.  253 

ing, perhaps,  that  his  hair  is  a  little  more  inclined 
to  curl. 

This  is  his  story.  Lost  in  the  confusion  of 
the  first  day's  fight,  Dixie  found  himself  among 
the  rebels.  "Dey  war  all  too  busy  a-fightin'  to 
mind  a  darkie.  So  I  slid  down  into  a  deep  gully 
washed  out  on  de  side  of  a  hill  by  de  rain,  and 
laid  quiet  till  it  was  nearly  dark.  Den  I  come 
out  and  looked  around.  Heaps  ob  dead  war 
lyin'  dar  on  de  ground,  and  so  many  ob  de 
wounded  was  cryin'  for  water.  I  'spected  if  de 
rebels  catch  me  wid  dem  blue  clothes  on  dey  would 
take  me  back  to  Virginny.  I  seed  a  dead  man 
jist  t'other  side  ob  me  wid  dese  clothes  on.  I 
took  dein  off  de  man  and  slipped  into  'em;  den 
I  went  back  to  my  hidin'  place,  and  lay  till 
mornin'.  Arter  awhile,  a  company  came  out  to 
gadder  up  de  wounded  and  bury  de  dead.  Dey 
hollered  at  me: 

'"Hallo,  darkie,  where  do  you  belong:" 

"I  told  dem  I  b'long  to  an  officer  in  de  Second 
Virginny,  and  had  lost  my  reg'ment.  Byme-by 
de  firin'  commenced  agin,  and  I  went  back  and 
laid  low  in  de  hole." 

Knowing  the  keenness  of  Dixie's  appetite  from 
an  experience  running  through  many  months,  we 
interrupted  him  in  his  story  to  inquire  where  he 
got  his  rations. 

"Dar  was  plenty  ob  habersacks  laying  about 
full  ob  hard  tack,  and  I  helped  myself." 

22 


254  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

"  How  did  you  know  when  to  come  away  from 
there?" 

"  I  kept  near  de  party  dat  was  buryin'  de  dead. 
One  evening  a  captain  came  an'  told  'em  to 
go  to  dar  reg'ment  —  dat  de  troops  was  gwine 
to  leave  Gettysburg.  I  went  a  little  way  wid 
'em,  until  I  seed  a  chance  to  go  to  one  side,  and 
get  back  to  my  hole  in  de  ground.  ^N~ext  mornin' 
eberybody  was  gone.  Presently  some  ob  our 
own  men  come  out  dar,  and  tell  me  which  way 
de  corps  was  marchin'.  I'se  been  gamin'  a  little 
on  it  ebery  day  since." 

I^"EAR  WILLIAMSPORT,  July  14. — After  all  our 
marching  and  planning,  the  rebels  have  eluded 
us.  "With  his  army  little  better  than  a  mob, 
General  Lee  has  succeeded  in  making  a  safe  pas 
sage  of  the  Potomac.  Where  his  capture  was 
regarded  with  so  much  certainty,  there  could  not 
be  anything  else  than  great  disappointment  at 
this  unexpected  result.  Citizens  along  the  route 
to  this  place  tell  us  that  if  an  attack  had  been 
made  yesterday  thousands  of  rebels  would  have 
fallen  into  our  hands,  as  the  troops  then  on  this 
side  of  the  river  were  entirely  without  artillery, 
and  with  but  little  ammunition.  Another  of  those 
mistakes  has  been  made  so  fatal  to  the  permanent 
success  of  the  Potomac  Army.  Xever  were  men 
more  eager  to  be  led  forward,  and  never  did  an 
opportunity,  to  all  appearances,  so  favorable  for 
utterly  routing  Lee  present  itself.  If  to  that 


REBEL    ARMY    ACROSS    THE    POTOMAC.          255 

council  of  war,  said  to  have  been  held  night  be 
fore  last,  where  all  the  generals  present,  except 
ing  Wadsworth  (representing  the  First  Corps  in 
the  temporary  absence  of  General  Xewton)  and 
Howard,  voted  against  an  attack,  General  Meade 
had  invited  representatives  from  the  rank  and 
file  of  his  army,  a  different  result  would  have 
been  reached.  Xothing  now  remains  but  to  fol 
low  the  enemy  through  Virginia,  where  the  ad 
vantage  of  roads,  position,  and  everything  else 
will  be  in  his  favor. 


CHAPTER  V. 

MARCHING    THROUGH    LOUDON   VALLEY. 

THE  halt  of  the  army  at  Williamsport,  after  it 
was  definitely  ascertained  that  Lee  had  crossed 
the  river  and  was  pushing  toward  Martinsburg, 
was  only  a  few  hours. 

The  Federal  commander  was  much  in  the  same 
position  that  McClellan  found  himself  after  the 
battle  of  Autietam.  The  question  of  pursuing 
the  enemy  through  the  valley  of  Virginia  was 
then  thoroughly  discussed;  and  because  of  the 
difficulty  of  supplying  an  army  with  only  a  single 
track  railroad  from  Harper's  Ferry  to  TTinches- 


256  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

ter,  it  was  pronounced  impracticable.  General 
Meade  therefore  determined  to  adopt  the  plan  of 
the  previous  year,  which  was  to  move  upon  the 
enemy's  flank  through  Loudon  Valley.  Pontoon 
bridges  were  ordered  to  be  thrown  across  the 
Potomac  at  Berlin,  and  on  the  morning  of  July 
15th  the  entire  army  was  moving  toward  that 
point. 

CRAMPTON'S  G-AP,  July  15. — Crampton's  Gap 
is  the  most  southerly  pass  of  the  South  Mount 
ain.  Here  we  are  encamped  for  the  night,  after 
a  march  from  "Williamsport  of  twenty  miles. 
Leaving  the  column  still  moving  onward,  and 
riding  off  to  the  right  of  Keedysville,  we  paid  a 
visit  to  walnut  grove,  our  camping  ground  of  last 
fall,  and  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Rowe.  There  were 
mutual  congratulations  over  the  victory  of  Get 
tysburg,  and  mutual  regrets  that  Lee  should  have 
escaped.  A  large  force  of  the  enemy  marched 
down  the  river  and  crossed  at  Shephardstown. 
They  gave  a  pitiable  account  of  the  condition  of 
the  rebel  army;  and  in  such  haste  were  they  to 
have  the  Potomac  between  themselves  and  the 
Yankees,  that  they  did  not  even  stop  to  plunder 
—  a  thing  they  dearly  love  to  do,  and  in  which 
they  are  completely  versed. 

On  our  way  back  to  the  regiment  we  passed 
over  the  right  of  Antietam  battle-field.  Prolific 
nature  and  industrious  man  have  greatly  changed 
the  face  of  the  ground  during  the  past  few 


OVER    THE    BATTLE-FIELD    OF    ANTIETAM.       257 

mouths.  Tall  grass  waves  over  spots  once  worn 
bare  by  the  friction  of  cannon  wheels,  or  the 
tread  of  shifting  infantry.  The  broken  fences 
have  been  set  up  in  the  old  lines;  wThile  the 
Dunkard  church — around  whose  doors  was  the 
fiercest  fighting  between  Hooker's  Corps  and 
Stonewall  Jackson,  and  whose  walls  were  pierced 
with  many  shells — still  bearing  the  scars  of  battle 
upon  it,  has  been  refitted,  and  resounds  again 
with  prayer  and  praise. 

During  the  fiercest  fighting  of  September  17th, 
near  this  spot,  a  soldier,  mortally  wounded,  was 
carried  by  his  companions.  They  laid  him  at 
the  foot  of  a  tree,  and  were  vainly  endeavoring 
to  stop  the  blood  flowing  from  a  gaping  wound. 

"  It's  all  of  no  use,"  said  he.  "  I  am  dying." 
With  some  effort  he  drew  from  his  pocket  a  Bible, 
and  handing  it  to  the  nearest  friend,  said:  "Give 
this  to  my  wife.  Tell  her  that  I  died  trusting  in 
Christ  as  my  Saviour;  and  that  this  book  has 
been  to  me  a  comfort  and  solace  in  all  the  trials 
of  soldier-life.  To  my  children  I  send  a  father's 
last  blessing."  Still  addressing  his  friend,  he 
added,  "  Now  pray  with  me."  And  there,  on 
the  battle-field,  amid  bursting  shell  and  flying 
shot,  those  men  knelt  down,  and  commended 
their  companion  to  the  care  of  God.  Afterward 
he  said,  "  Sing."  There  was  a  moment's  pause, 
as  though  one  was  waiting  for  the  other,  when 
the  dying  man  commenced,  faintly — 
22* 


258  STORY    OF    TI1E    REGIMENT. 

"Jesus,  lover  of  my  soul, 
Let  me  to  thy  bosom  fly." 

But  before  the  verse  was  ended  the  pulse  had 
ceased  to  beat,  and  the  tongue  of  the  singer  was 
silent  in  death.  Did  the  victorious  general,  fall 
ing  at  the  head  of  his  charging  column,  die  more 
heroically  than  this  nameless  and  unknown  sol 
dier  ?  Xo,  not  unknown!  To-night  he  marches 
the  streets  of  the  Xew  Jerusalem,  the  loved 
companion  of  its  blessed  inhabitants. 

A  sad  fatality  has  attended  the  Hoffman  fam 
ily,  whose  house  was  occupied  as  brigade  hospi 
tal  during  the  battle.  Returning  to  their  home 
after  the  last  of  the  wounded  were  removed,  in 
a  few  days  a  malignant  fever  carried  off  one  and 
another,  until  of  father,  mother,  two  daughters, 
and  an  equal  number  of  sons,  not  one  remains. 

WATERFORD,  YA.,  July  18. — For  the  third  time 
we  crossed  the  Potomac,  and  are  again  in  Vir 
ginia.  The  pontoon  bridges  were  laid  at  Berlin 
last  night,  and  the  crossing  commenced  early 
this  morning.  There  is  no  enthusiasm  among 
the  men;  nor  will  they  be  persuaded  that  we 
shall  be  more  successful  in  the  pursuit  of  Lee 
south  of  the  Potomac  than  we  were  north  of  it. 

The  district  surrounding  AVaterford  is  the  most 
loyal  of  Virginia.  Captain  Steel's  Rangers,  a 
body  of  troops  that  often  measure  arms  with 
Moseby's  guerrillas,  are  from  this  neighborhood. 
The  gallant  captain  and  a  part  of  his  men  arrived 


AN    UNAMIABLE    LADY.  259 

in  town  to-night,  to  the  evident  gratification  of 
the  citizens. 

HAMILTON,,  July  19. — We  marched  eight  miles 
to-day  from  Water-ford  to  Hamilton.  There  is 
an  air  of  quiet  repose  about  these  little  towns, 
nestled  in  this  verdant  valley,  quite  refreshing. 
Why  a  town  should  be  built  just  in  the  particu 
lar  locality  you  find  it,  would  be  hard  to  tell. 
But  the  suddenness  with  which  you  come  upon 
them,  and  the  unexpected  places  in  which  they 
are  to  be  found,  adds  all  the  more  to  their  beauty 
and  attractiveness.  Another  thing  is  also  to  be 
observed — that  every  mile  we  make  southward 
marks  a  change  in  the  sentiments  of  the  people. 
Loyalty  to  the  Government  increases  as  you 
move  toward  the  Potomac,  and  decreases  as  you 
recede  from  it.  The  hospital  steward  of  the 
Ninetieth  New  York  asked  permission  of  the 
lady  of  a  house,  near  where  we  halted,  to  bring 
into  her  room,  until  the  ambulances  came  up,  a 
sick  man,  who  gave  out  on  the  march. 

"No,"  was  the  curt  reply.  "  Sick  or  well,  no 
Yankee  shall  come  into  my  house  with  my  con 
sent." 

The  sick  man  was  taken  in  and  made  comfort 
able,  without  the  consent  of  the  amiable  madam. 

MIDDLEBURG,  July  20. — As  early  as  four  o'clock 
this  A.  M.  the  Eleventh  Regiment,  leading  the 
First  Corps,  was  moving  in  the  direction  of  Alid- 
dleburg,  sixteen  miles  distant  from  Hamilton. 


260  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

The  march  was  drawn  out  until  late  in  the  after 
noon. 

One  thing  that  has  greatly  relieved  our  journeys 
through  this  part  of  Virginia,  is  the  abundance 
of  good  water.  Loudon  Valley  is  the  great 
highway  to  the  ocean  for  all  the  streams  rising 
in  the  Blue  Ridge.  Clear  running  water  met  us 
all  day  long  at  every  step,  and  in  one  instance 
offered  no  little  impediment  to  our  progress. 

A  large  stream,  that  flows  into  the  Potomac, 
under  the  domestic  name  of  Goose  Creek,  where 
the  main  road  to  Middleburg  crosses  it  was  once 
spanned  by  a  substantial  stone  bridge.  But  our 
friends  from  Richmond,  after  they  themselves 
had  made  a  safe  passage,  turned  round  and  de 
stroyed  it.  Xothing  was  left  for  us  but  to  ford 
Goose  Creek,  as  we  had  more  than  once  forded 
other  creeks.  With  the  water  three  and  a  half 
feet  deep,  the  crossing  was  not  made  without  the 
occurrence  of  many  ludicrous  scenes.  Some  of 
the  men  were  content  to  remove  only  shoes  and 
stockings ;  others  doffed  coat  and  breeches ;  while 
many  more,  discarding  every  particle  of  Uncle 
Sam's  uniform,  excepting  the  cap,  undertook  the 
transit  in  the  uniform  provided  by  nature.  One 
missed  his  footing  and  became  an  involuntary 
immersionist.  Another  let  fall  the  bundle  of 
clothes  he  seemed  most  anxious  to  keep  dry;  or, 
stepping  into  a  treacherous  hole,  for  a  moment 
man  and  bundle  both  disappeared.  Escaping  all 


THE    FORDING    OF    GOOSE    CREEK.  261 

the  perils  by  water,  the  first  step  up  the  slippery 
bank  was  often  a  false  step,  letting  down  the  too 
confident  soldier  into  a  bed  of  soft  mud,  or  slid 
ing  him  back  into  the  stream.  All  these  mis 
haps  were  signals  for  expressions  more  witty 
than  polite;  and  for  bursts  of  laughter  more 
vociferous  than  musical. 

Our  present  encampment  is  in  sight  of  the 
handsome  town  of  Middleburg.  The  citizens  of 
the  place  showed  their  utter  contempt  for  us 
by  retiring  to  their  houses  and  closing  every 
door  and  window.  Xot  a  white  person  was  to  be 
seen,  and  but  for  the  negroes  that  met  us  on  the 
street  corners,  we  might  have  thought  the  town 
uninhabited. 

Another  reason  for  the  unusual  quiet  of  Mid 
dleburg  has  just  been  discovered.  Between  one 
and  two  hundred  rebel  wounded  from  the  field 
of  Gettysburg  are  quartered  in  the  town,  and  it 
was  very  desirable  that  they  should  remain  un 
discovered  by  the  prying  and  curious  Yankees. 
Liberal  supplies  of  stores,  stolen  from  Maryland 
and  Pennsylvania,  were  also  left  for  their  sub 
sistence.  General  Xewton  has  very  properly 
ordered  this  supply  to  be  considerably  lessened. 
It  may  be  gratifying  to  some  loyal  Pennsylvania 
farmer  to  know  that  a  part  of  his  smoked  hams, 
recaptured  from  the  rebels,  is  now  filling  the 
haversacks  of  Pennsylvania  soldiers. 

JULY  23. — Just  as  we  had  ceased  to  wonder  at 


262  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

our  long  delay  in  one  place  in  the  pursuit  of  Lee, 
the  bugle  sounded  the  assembly,  and  at  seven 
o'clock  yesterday  evening  the  march  was  re 
sumed,  Robinson's  Division  in  rear  of  the  corps, 
and  the  Eleventh  in  rear  of  the  division.  We 
had  not  proceeded  more  than  a  mile  or  two  be 
fore  it  was  known  that  guerrillas  were  following 
after  our  wagon  train,  and  fears  were  entertained 
of  an  attack.  The  regiment  halted  along  the 
road-side  until  the  wagons  passed,  when  we  fell 
in  behind  them,  thus  marching  until  daylight 
this  morning.  After  a  rest  of  three  hours  at 
White  Plains,  the  column  moved  on  to  Warren- 
ton,  where  we  are  now  in  camp,  with  the  pros 
pect  of  remaining  for  some  days.  Our  friends — 
the  Fosters  —  are  still  at  the  Plains.  But  a 
shadow  has  fallen  upon  the  hearth-stone.  The 
son,  a  lieutenant  in  Major  Moseby's  Partisan 
Rangers  (so  they  speak  of  Moseby  and  his  men), 
is  now  a  prisoner  in  Washington,  confined  in  the 
Old  Capitol. 

BEALTOX  STATION,  July  26. — All  our  pleasant 
imaginings  of  a  quiet  time  at  Warrenton  were 
suddenly  dispelled  yesterday  morning  by  orders 
to  march.  "What  does  ail  this  mean ?"  "Where 
are  we  going?"  were  questions  asked  in  no 
amiable  mood.  "Our  supplies  have  been  cut  off 
at  Catlett's  Station,''  said  one.  "Bragg  has  re 
inforced  Lee,  and  the  rebels  are  coming  down 
the  Manassas  Gap  Railroad  to  Bull  Run,''  said 


CAMP    AT    BEALTON    STATION.  263 

another.  Toward  noon  we  reached  Warrenton 
Junction,  to  find  that  the  supplies  were  not  cut 
off,  and  that  Lee  had  no  intention  of  coming  to 
Bull  Run.  It  was  satisfactorily  explained  that 
we  had  moved  to  the  railroad  junction,  to  be 
nearer  our  base  of  supplies.  Wagons  were  again 
unpacked,  tents  pitched,  and  arrangements  made 
for  a  long  stay  at  Warrenton  Junction.  ]S"ear 
sundown,  when  we  were  listening  for  the  bugle 
to  sound  retreat,  it  sounded  to  march.  "Where 
now?"  all  were  ready  to  ask.  "It  is  only  a 
change  of  camp  to  get  a  better  supply  of  water." 
But  an  order  assigning  the  Eleventh  Regiment 
as  rear- guard  of  the  wagon  train,  was  the  end  of 
all  further  speculation.  A  little  after  midnight 
we  bivouacked  at  Bealton  Station,  where  we  are 
awaiting  further  orders. 

JULY  26,  Evening. — The  only  move  we  have 
made  to-day  was  to  join  the  rest  of  the  brigade, 
from  which  we  were  separated  last  night  by  the 
wagon  train.  With  our  tents  pitched,  we  find 
ourselves  comfortably  located,  and  will  accept 
Bealton  Station  as  the  resting-place  we  have 
been  looking  for  since  we  left  Warrenton. 

MONDAY,  July  27. — A  train  of  cars  came  from 
Alexandria,  loaded  with  material  for  building 
the  bridge  at  Rappahannock  Station.  One  bri 
gade  of  our  division  is  now  at  the  river,  three 
miles  distant.  It  seems  to  be  the  purpose  to 
cross  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment.  But 


264  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

that  cannot  be  for  several  days  to  come.  Our 
men  are  sadly  in  want  of  clothing,  and  many  of 
the  troops  that  have  joined  us  since  the  last  battle 
are  unarmed.  All  these  wants  must  be  supplied 
before  we  can  advance. 

FRIDAY,  July  31. — During  the  last  four  days 
Bealton  Station  has  grown  into  quite  a  business 
center.  Half  a  dozen  trains  arrive  daily,  loaded 
with  all  kinds  of  army  supplies.  ^N"ew  clothing 
and  equipments  have  been  issued,  and  the  rest 
enjoyed  since  Sabbath  has  had  an  improving 
effect  upon  the  men. 

While  the  First  Corps  was  marching  through 
Loudon  Valley,  in  the  rear  and  on  the  flank  of 
the  army,  the  other  corps  had  been  pushing  rap 
idly  forward  toward  Manassas  Gap,  in  the  hope 
of  intercepting  Lee  at  Front  Royal.  The  Third 
Corps  reached  the  Gap  on  the  23d  of  July,  the 
day  of  our  halt  at  Middleburg.  We  were  then 
in  advance  of  the  rebels,  and  it  wras  expected 
that  the  error  committed  at  Williamsport  would 
be  atoned  for  at  Manassas  Gap.  But  instead  of 
attacking  with  his  usual  earnestness,  General 
French  wasted  a  wThole  day  in  reconnoiteriug 
the  position.  When  the  Gap  was  at  last  forced, 
it  was  only  to  find  that  he  had  been  baffled  by  a 
small  rear-guard,  General  Lee,  in  the  mean  time, 
making  good  his  escape.  Scouts  report  that  the 
Southern  army  is  now  in  position  near  Culpeper, 
while  our  own  lines  stretch  along  the  north  bank 


FIGHT   AT    BRANDY    STATION.  265 

of  the  Rappahannock,  from  Kelly's  Ford  on  the 
left  to  Sulphur  Springs  on  the  right.  A  large 
cavalry  force,  under  command  of  General  Buford, 
is  collecting  here,  which  looks  as  if  the  pursuit 
of  Lee  was  still  to  be  kept  up. 

SATURDAY,  August  1. — Across  the  Eappahan- 
nock.  At  five  o'clock  this  morning  we  left 
Bealton  Station  and  marched  to  the  river.  As 
soon  as  the  pontoon  bridges  were  laid,  the  cav 
alry  crossed  in  force,  and  afterward  Robinson's 
Division  of  infantry.  The  Eleventh  was  at  once 
placed  in  position  on  the  knoll  next  to  the  river, 
and  every  man  set  to  work  throwing  up  intrench- 
ments.  The  cavalry  continued  the  march  toward 
Culpeper,  in  which  direction  there  has  been 
severe  fighting  all  afternoon,  but  with  what 
result  we  cannot  tell. 

SUNDAY,  August  2. — The  warmest  day  of  the 
season;  not  a  breath  of  air  stirring;  not  a  tree  to 
protect  the  men  from  the  scorching  rays  of  the 
sun.  All  work  on  the  intrenchments  suspended 
because  of  the  heat. 

The  fight  of  yesterday  was  a  serious  affair. 
Encountering  a  force  of  rebel  cavalry  at  Brandy 
Station,  Buford  opened  the  engagement,  press 
ing  the  enemy  back  near  to  Culpeper,  when  a 
heavy  reinforcement  of  infantry  fell  upon  the 
Federal  flank,  compelling  a  retreat  to  Brandy 
Station,  with  considerable  loss.  The  entire  rebel 
army  is  concentrated  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cul- 

23 


266  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

peper;  and  it  is  possible  that  the  fight  may  be 
renewed  at  any  hour.  Xo  troops  are  here  but 
those  belonging  to  the  First  Corps.  We  must 
make  our  intrenchments  count  in  the  place  of 
men. 

MONDAY,  August  3. — The  railroad  bridge  across 
the  river  was  completed  to-day,  a  locomotive  pass 
ing  over  to  try  its  strength.  Everything  is  quiet 
on  the  plain  below.  Our  position  is  the  same  as 
yesterday,  excepting  that  the  Eleventh  was  moved 
further  to  the  front  this  afternoon.  AVe  are  now 
on  the  hill  occupied  during  the  engagement  of 
last  August,  and  which  our  boys  claim  especially 
as  belonging  to  them.  Here  are  the  breastworks 
thrown  up  nearly  a  year  ago.  They  have  been 
strengthened  this  afternoon,  and  if  the  enemy 
should  attack  us  again  in  this  place,  he  will  have 
a  greeting  quite  as  warm  as  on  the  former  occa 
sion  . 

TUESDAY,  August  4. — ~\Ve  had  about  made  up 
our  minds  that  an  opportunity  would  be  afforded 
to  test  the  strength  of  our  intrenchments  and 
our  ability  to  hold  them.  The  day  passed  quietly 
enough  until  two  o'clock  P.M.,  when  the  discharge 
of  a  cannon  out  in  front  brought  every  man  to 
his  feet.  A  few  steps  from  our  tent  and  the 
whole  plain  was  visible.  The  rebels  had  planted 
a  battery  on  the  crest  of  a  slight  eminence,  a  mile 
distant,  and  opened  a  rapid  fire  on  the  pickets, 
at  the  same  time  they  advanced  a  strong  line  of 


ELEVENTH    ON    HARTSUFF'S    KNOLL.  267 

skirmishers.  For  a  time  everything  looked  as 
though  a  general  engagement  was  inevitable. 
Our  guns  replied  to  the  enemy;  the  cavalry 
formed  in  line  of  battle  on  the  plains,  and  the 
Ninetieth  Pennsylvania  reinforcing  the  Elev 
enth  on  the  top  of  HartsufFs  Knoll,  the  men 
took  their  places  in  the  intrenchments.  After 
two  hours  of  brisk  skirmishing,  all  the  time 
gradually  advancing,  our  cavalry  compelled  the 
enemy  to  withdraw.  The  plain  is  now  quiet,  but 
the  troops  are  ordered  to  remain  in  the  intrench 
ments. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

OCCUPYING    THE    LINE    OF    THE    RAPIDAN. 


N  General  Meade  reached  the  Rappahan- 
nock,  he  proposed  at  once  to  follow  up  the  pur 
suit  of  Lee,  rather  than  to  wait  for  the  rebel 
general  to  rest  his  men  and  recruit  his  army. 
But  orders  from  Washington  directed  Meade  to 
assume  a  threatening  attitude  along  the  Rappa- 
hannock,  but  not  to  advance  beyond  it.  The 
operations  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  during 
the  first  days  of"  August,  were  in  obedience  to 
General  Halleck's  orders. 

The  campaign  was  now  at  an  end.     Through- 


268  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

out  the  month  of  August  the  army  remained  in 
undisturbed  quiet,  receiving  daily  accessions  to 
its  numbers  from  the  draft  that  had  been  made 
in  the  several  Northern  States.  Some  of  the 
drafted  men  were  good  and  reliable  soldiers ; 
but  the  vast  majority  that  first  reached  the  army 
were  hired  substitutes,  adding  nothing  whatever 
to  its  material  strength.  They  deserted  every 
day  by  scores,  before  they  had  time  to  learn  the 
number  of  the  regiment  to  which  they  were  as 
signed,  or  even  the  letter  of  the  company.  The 
division  guard-house  became  an  indispensable  in 
stitution,  often  containing  at  one  time  a  hundred 
prisoners.  Courts-martial  were  in  perpetual  ses 
sion,  and  the  shooting  of  deserters  an  ordinary 
affair. 

The  mortality  among  the  conscripts,  even  of 
the  better  class,  was  fearfully  great.  Coming  to 
the  front  in  the  heat  of  July  and  August,  and 
taking  their  places  by  the  side  of  men  who  had 
been  inured  to  the  service,  they  broke  down  on 
the  march,  or  yielded  to  the  first  attack  of  dis 
eases  incident  to  camp  life. 

Toward  the  1st  of  September,  the  numerical 
strength  of  the  army  was  greatly  diminished  by 
sending  detachments  of  troops,  first  to  South 
Carolina,  and  then  to  New  York  to  enforce  the 
draft.  But  the  army  of  General  Lee  had  under 
gone  a  like  depletion,  Longstreet's  Corps  having 
been  sent  to  the  Southwest  to  reinforce  Bragg. 


PICKETING    RACCOON    FORD.  269 

Without  waiting  for  instructions  from  Wash 
ington,  General  Meade  abandoned  the  line  of  the 
Rappahannock,  and  advanced  to  the  Rapidan. 
The  rebel  army  was  found  on  the  south  bank,  in 
a  position  so  strongly  fortified  as  to  defy  an  at 
tack  in  front.  The  country  south  of  the  river 
was  almost  unknown,  and  before  a  flank  attack 
could  be  made — the  only  one  promising  any  suc 
cess — it  was  necessary  that  the  territory  should 
be  explored  by  our  cavalry. 

Meanwhile  the  disaster  of  Chickamauga  oc 
curred,  and  the  Potomac  Army  was  further  weak 
ened  by  the  departure  of  the  Eleventh  and 
Twelfth  Corps  to  Tennessee.  With  the  army 
thus  reduced,  the  attack  on  the  enemy's  flank 
was  abandoned,  and  General  Meade  occupied 
the  line  of  the  Rapidan,  as  he  had  before  occu 
pied  the  line  of  the  Rappahannock. 

THURSDAY,  September  24th. — Moving  from 
camp  near  Culpeper,  the  First  Corps  has  taken 
the  place  of  the  Twelfth  Corps,  next  to  the  river. 
The  regiment  is  doing  picket  duty  at  Raccoon 
Ford.  The  history  of  the  Eleventh  marks  each 
distinctive  step  of  the  war.  First  we  did  picket 
duty  on  the  Potomac;  then,  advancing  south 
ward,  on  the  Rappahaunock,  and  now  on  the 
Rapidan.  Will  it  come  our  turn,  in  the  course 
of  events,  to  picket  the  James? 

A  part  of  the  day  has  been  spent  with  two 
men  who  are  to  be  executed  for  desertion.  One 
23* 


270  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

is  an  Irishman,  and  the  other  a  German.  The 
German  has  been  in  this  country  only  two  or 
three  months,  and  is  to  be  pitied  as  the  victim 
of  circumstances.  The  case  of  the  Irishman  is 
one  of  the  many  impositions  practiced  upon  the 
government.  A  citizen  of  1$ew  York,  he  sold 
himself  for  a  substitute  in  Boston,  and  then  took 
advantage  of -the  first  opportunity  to  desert. 

SUNDAY,  September  '21. — Broke  up  camp  at 
noon,  and  after  marching  an  hour  through  the 
woods  and  over  the  rocks  that  skirt  the  base  of 
Pony  Mountain,  halted  in  our  present  bivouac 
near  Mitchell's  Station,  the  railroad  crossing  of 
the  Rapidan.  The  wherefore  of  these  short  and 
frequent  moves  is  not  quite  plain  to  us.  One 
thing,  however,  is  apparent — our  friends  across 
the  river  do  not  mean  that  we  shall  come  to 
their  side  of  the  stream,  for,  as  usual,  they  are 
busy  ditching  and  intrenching  a  position  that 
nature  has  already  rendered  next  to  impreg 
nable. 

THURSDAY,  October  1.  —  These  mellow,  au 
tumnal  days  slip  away  almost  imperceptibly. 
September  is  gone,  and  we  have  entered  upon 
October.  So  little  has  been  accomplished  since 
the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  that  we  fear  to  think 
the  fall  rains  will  soon  commence.  Virginia 
mud  will  be  worth  more  to  Lee  than  fifty  thou 
sand  men.  The  cases  of  Sullivan  and  Yon  He- 
nike  are  still  in  suspension.  But  another  Ger- 


EXECUTION  OF  A  DESERTER.        271 

man,  named  Schmidt,  a  conscript  belonging  to 
the  Ninetieth  Regiment,  has  been  added  to  the 
condemned,  and  will  be  shot  to-morrow. 

FRIDAY,  October  2. — Private  Henry  Schmidt 
was  executed  in  presence  of  the  entire  division. 
It  is  well  when  a  man  is  to  be  ushered  into  eter 
nity,  whatever  is  the  nature  of  the  crime  for 
which  he  dies,  that  all  the  arrangements  should 
be  solemn  and  impressive.  The  troops  were 
drawn  up  on  three  sides  of  the  open  grave,  with 
space  enough  between  the  regiments  in  front  for 
the  funeral  cortege  to  pass  through.  After  the 
lines  were  formed,  the  slow  notes  of  the  band 
playing  a  funeral  dirge,  gave  warning  that  the 
procession  was  approaching.  The  provost  mar 
shal  of  the  division  entered  the  arena,  followed 
by  an  ambulance  containing  the  condemned  and 
a  Catholic  priest.  Arrived  at  the  grave,  the 
coffin  was  placed  at  its  side.  The  priest  and  the 
prisoner  knelt  a  moment  in  prayer,  then  taking 
a  seat  on  the  coffin,  the  hands  and  feet  of  the 
condemned  were  pinioned,  a  bandage  placed  over 
his  eyes,  and  all  was  ready  for  the  execution. 
The  commands  were  given  in  a  clear,  steady  voice, 
"Ready — aim — tire  !"  Half  a  dozen  balls  entered 
the  body  near  the  heart,  and  without  a  move 
ment  of  limb  or  muscle,  the  deserter  was  dead. 
Schmidt  had  been  in  the  country  only  a  few 
months.  He  was  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land. 
The  friends  he  left  behind  in  the  fatherland  will 


272  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

never  know  what  has  become  of  him,  and  there 
will  be  none  to  mourn  his  ignoble  fate. 

WEDNESDAY,  October  7. — Most  of  the  regiment 
has  been  detailed  for  special  picket  duty.  The 
Rapidan  in  front  is  so  narrow,  that  the  pickets  of 
the  two  armies  approach  within  a  few  yards  of 
each  other.  With  rare  exceptions  the  utmost 
good  feeling  prevails,  and  a  regular  exchange 
of  newspapers,  coffee,  sugar  and  tobacco  is  kept 
up. 

FRIDAY,  October  9. — The  quartermaster  is 
busy  issuing  eight  days'  rations  to  the  men, 
always  a  sure  intimation  of  a  speedy  move. 
Yesterday  morning,  as  division  officer  of  the  day, 
Colonel  Coulter  had  a  short  interview  with  a 
Confederate  captain,  stationed  on  the  south  side 
of  the  Rapidan.  The  rebels  fired  on  our  pickets 
stationed  near  the  house  of  Dr.  Stringfellow,  and 
the  meeting  was  in  the  interests  of  the  family, 
who  were  in  continual  alarm  for  their  personal 
safety.  The  officer  said  that  the  firing  was  unau 
thorized,  and  had  occurred  through  the  removal 
of  the  old  pickets  and  the  substitution  of  others 
not  acquainted  with  the  order  against  picket 
firing.  The  fact  of  the  interview  was  signaled 

O  O 

all  along  the  rebel  lines,  and  read  at  our  own 
stations.  For  some  time  the  signal  officers  have 
thought  themselves  in  possession  of  the  key  to 
the  enemy's  signals,  and  this  slight  event,  appar 
ently  so  accidental,  has  proved  the  surmising 


READING    THE    ENEMY'S    SIGNALS.  273 

to  be  true.  General  Meade  and  staff  spent  the 
day  at  the  signal  station  on  Pony  Mountain. 
The  discovery  of  yesterday  has  doubtless  much 
to  do  with  present  preparations  for  an  advance. 
What  a  little  thing  sometimes  develops  great 
issues! 

SUNDAY  MORNING,  October  11. — Late  on  Friday 
night,  orders  were  received  indicating  the  char 
acter  of  the  move  for  which  preparations  had 
been  making  during  the  day.  Buford's  Division 
of  cavalry  was  to  cross  the  Rapidan  at  (srermania 
Ford,  and,  marching  up  the  south  bank,  uncover 
the  fords  of  Morton  and  Raccoon,  at  which 
points  the  First  Corps  was  to  cross  and  move 
against  the  enemy's  right,  while  the  Sixth  Corps 
was  to  attack  his  left,  The  infantry  forces  were 
to  march  as  noiselessly  as  possible,  and  to  be  at 
the  localities  designated  before  daylight,  so  as 
not  to,  awaken  the  suspicion  of  the  enemy,  or 
reveal  the  movements  of  the  cavalry. 

Leaving  camp  at  two  o'clock  Saturday  morn 
ing,  long  before  the  hour  appointed  Robinson's 
Division  was  massed  in  the  woods  in  front  of 
Raccoon  Ford,  awaiting  the  approach  of  Buford. 
Hour  after  hour  wore  away,  but  no  sign  of  our 
horsemen.  A  little  after  dusk  yesterday  even 
ing,  the  cavalry  still  failing  to  appear,  the  divi 
sion  moved  back  to  Culpeper  pike,  in  sight  of 
Stevensburg,  where  we  remain  in  bivouac.  It  is 
rumored  that  while  Meade  is  operating  here  on 


274  STORY   OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

the  enemy's  left,  Lee  is  moving  up  toward  our 
right.  However  that  may  be,  the  movement  on 
this  side  of  the  Rapidan  extends  to  the  whole 
army,  and  no  longer  looks  like  an  advance. 

MONDAY  MORNING,  Oct.  12. — Yesterday  after 
noon  the  First  Corps  marched  to  Kelly's  Ford, 
on  the  Rappahannock,  the  Eleventh  in  rear  of 
Robinson's  Division.  No  time  was  lost  on  the 
way,  as  it  soon  became  known  that  the  pickets 
had  been  withdrawn  from  the  Rapidan,  and  the 
rebel  cavalry  was  in  close  pursuit.  Twice  the 
regiment  was  halted  to  meet  an  expected  charge 
of  the  enemy.  As  the  sun  was  going  down  the 
men  waded  waist-deep  through  the  waters  of  the 
Rappahannock,  and  formed  in  line  on  the  north 
bank.  Our  batteries  were  unlimbered  and  placed- 
in  positions  commanding  not  only  the  river  ford, 
but  all  the  opposite  plain.  General  Baxter  was 
ordered  to  keep  a  watch  on  the  road  over  which 
we  had  come,  and  have  a  care  lest  we  did 
not  fire  into  Buford's  men,  who  might  find  it 
necessary  to  fall  back  in  this  direction.  The 
large  brick-mill  and  neat  dwelling-houses  at  the 
ford,  the  river-hills,  and  the  broad,  green  plain 
on  the  opposite  shore,  seen  in  the  lingering  twi 
light  of  yesterday  evening,  made  up  a  picture 
the  mind  will  long  retain. 

MONDAY  EVENING. — The  sharp  firing  heard  all 
day,  at  short  intervals,  on  our  right,  is  certain 
evidence  that  the  enemy,  as  well  as  ourselves,  is 


A    RAID    ON    THE   SUTLERS.  275 

making  rapid  moves.  For  several  hours  we  have 
been  in  readiness  to  march.  Just  now  an  order 
was  received  for  the  wagons  to  proceed  to  Beal- 
ton  Station,  and  the  drivers  are  already  in  the 
saddle. 

The  individuals  who  suffer  most  in  these  ex 
cited  army  movements  are  the  sutlers.  A  large 
train  of  them  had  ventured  to  the  front  with  a 
heavy  stock  of  goods.  Halting  with  us  here  at 
Kelly's  Ford,  they  have  been  doing  a  brisk  trade. 
There  is  great  alarm  among  them  as  they  make 
for  the  rear;  and  great  sport  among  the  boys  as 
one  wagon  after  another  (from  whose  wheels  the 
pins  have  been  secretly  removed)  breaks  down, 
leaving  their  contents  to  the  mercy  of  a  hundred 
sly  and  roguish  soldiers.  That  hurrah,  this  mo 
ment  heard,  is  everywhere  understood  to  mean 
"cleaning  out"  a  sutler's  establishment,  and 
never  fails  to  bring  forth  a  large  body  of  recruits. 

CENTERVILLE,  Wednesday,  Oct.  14. — For  the 
last  thirty-six  hours  we  have  had  scarcely  more 
than  time  to  breathe.  Monday  midnight  the  di 
vision  left  Kelly's  Ford  for  Warrenton  Junction. 
All  manner  of  rumors  were  in  circulation  as  to 
the  doings  of  the  rebels.  Some  had  it  that  they 
were  moving  in  large  force  far  up  to  our  right; 
others  again,  that  they  were  coming  down  from 
Warrenton.  The  latter  report  seemed  the  more 
probable;  because  from  the  Ford  to  the  Junc 
tion  was  all  the  way  at  a  run,  and  with  scarcely  a 


276  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

halt.  Robinson's  Division  was  the  first  to  reach 
the  threatened  point,  and  without  a  moment's 
delay  artillery  and  infantry  were  formed  in  line 
of  battle. 

If  any  one  imagines  it  to  be  an  easy  thing  to 
move  an  army,  he  should  have  seen  the  sight 
that  here  presented  itself.  oSTot  far  in  the  rear 
was  heard  the  roar  of  cannon;  but  louder  than 
this  came  the  rumbling  of  hundreds  of  wagons, 
that  in  every  direction  skirted  the  horizon,  and 
covered  the  plain.  By  every  avenue  troops  were 
pouring  in,  until  the  eye  wearied  of  the  watch 
ing.  Waiting  in  line  of  battle  for  two  hours, 
Robinson  moved  on  to  Catlett's  Station,  and 
then  to  Bristow,  where,  foot-sore  and  tired,  we 
bivouacked  for  the  night. 

Early  this  morning  the  division  was  again  in 
line,  moving  toward  Manassas.  A  courier  re 
ported  Manassas  Junction  occupied  during  the 
night  by  a  force  of  the  enemy.  Skirmishers 
were  thrown  out  on  either  flank  and  in  front. 
Slowly  and  cautiously  the  troops  advanced,  halt 
ing  occasionally  that  the  skirmishers  might  enter 
some  copse  of  woods,  or  turn  some  angle  in  the 
road  far  enough  in  advance  to  give  the  main 
column  notice  of  danger.  But  not  a  foe  was 
to  be  seen  to  dispute  our  march.  Over  Ma 
nassas  plains  and  across  Bull  Run  we  continued 
to  these  hights  of  Centerville,  within  whose  for 
tifications  \ve  are  ordered  to  halt.  Thousands  of 


MYSTERIOUS    MOVEMENTS.  277 

armed  men,  and  bristling  cannon,  and  white- 
topped  wagons  crowd  the  roads  below.  What  it 
all  means  is  to  us  a  profound  mystery. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

FROM    THE    RAPIDAN   TO    CENTERVILLE. 

THE  reason  of  the  retrograde  march  soon  be 
came  apparent.  As  already  stated,  General 
Meade  determined  to  assault  the  enemy's  right 
in  the  vicinity  of  Raccoon  and  Morton  Fords. 
From  the  hights  of  Pony  Mountain  and  Slaugh 
ter's  Hill  the  country  had  been  carefully  studied, 
and  the  plan  of  attack  thoroughly  discussed. 
But  the  last  view  from  those  look-outs  presented 
a  new  scene  to  the  eyes  of  our  signal  officers.  It 
told  that  a  movement  of  vast  magnitude — the 
very  counterpart  of  our  own — was  in  progress  on 
the  south  side  of  the  Rapidan.  Lee  was  as  well 
satisfied  that  he  could  turn  the  Federal  right, 
and  break  our  communications  with  Washing 
ton,  as  Meade  was  that  he  could  turn  the  rebel 
right,  and  break  Lee's  communications  with  Rich 
mond;  and  the  singular  coincidence  occurred  of 
the  two  armies  moving  to  attack  one  another  at 

24 


278  STORY   OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

the  same  time,  and  on  the  same  though  opposite 
flanks. 

Confident  of  the  enemy's  intentions,  Gen 
eral  Meade  determined  to  select  his  own  battle 
ground.  The  cavalry  was  thrown  out  to  watch 
Lee's  movements;  Pleasanton  occupying  the 
ground  between  the  Bappahannock  and  Cul- 
peper,  and  Gregg  guarding  the  fords  near  and 
above  Warrenton.  The  commanding  general 
looked  to  Gregg  for  the  earliest  information  of 
the  whereabouts  and  the  doings  of  the  enemy 
on  his  right. 

The  Federal  army  was  that  moment  en  route 
for  Warrenton  Junction,  along  which  line  it  was 
intended  to  await  the  approach  of  the  Southerners. 
But  no  word  coming  from  Gregg  that  would  in 
dicate  the  appearance  of  the  enemy  on  the  Upper 
Rappahannock,  and  Pleasanton  reporting  that 
Lee  was  concentrating  around  Culpeper,  the 
troops  were  halted,  and  three  corps  moved  back 
to  Brandy  Station. 

A  recoimoitering  party  kept  on  to  Culpeper, 
but  without  meeting  any  force  of  the  rebels. 
It  began  to  be  thought  that  General  Lee  had 
countermanded  marching  orders,  and  that  his 
troops  were  going  back  into  the  old  position 
along  the  Rapidan.  Thus  passed  the  12th  of 
October  until  ten  o'clock  at  night,  when  word 
came  in  from  Gregg  that  his  cavalry  was  at 
tacked  by  an  overpowering  force  of  the  enemy, 


FIRST    CORPS    AT    BRISTOW    STATIOX.  279 

and  driven  from  their  defenses  with  great  loss. 
He  was  then  within  five   miles    of  Warrenton 
Junction,  hard  pressed  by  Ewell,  with  whom  he 
had  been  contending  since  eleven  o'clock  A.M. 
It  was  a  critical  moment.     On  our  ri^ht  Hank 

O 

were  the  advancing  columns  of  Lee's  entire  army, 
while  our  own  corps  were  distributed,  one  at  Free 
man's  Ford,  three  at  Brandy  Station,  across  the 
Rappahannock,  and  one  at  Kelly's  Ford.  The 
darkness  of  the  night  favored  the  concentration 
of  our  troops,  and  the  correction  in  part  of  Gregg's 
error.  But  Meade  was  compelled  to  move  fur 
ther  in  toward  his  base,  in  order  to  get  the  army 
together  and  recover  a  position  on  the  line  of 
his  communications. 

The  First  Corps  came  to  Warrenton  Junction, 
by  wray  of  Bealton,  without  opposition.  Xo 
enemy  showing  himself,  after  a  halt  of  two  hours 
the  troops  were  pushed  on  to  Bristow  Station, 
and  then  to  Manassas.  Not  a  living  thing  was 
to  be  seen  moving  over  those  broad  plains,  on 
which  had  settled  down  the  very  silence  of  death. 
Far  to  the  left  great  clouds  of  dust  were  driving 
along  by  the  blustering  October  winds.  Lee  was 
still  moving  over  the  Warrenton  pike,  with  the 
hope  of  occupying  Centerville,  and  thus  compel 
Meade  to  open  his  communications  with  Wash 
ington  by  first  attacking  that  strong  position. 
The  First  Corps  continued  its  steady  and  rapid 
march,  reaching  the  bights  of  Centerville  at 
noon  of  October  14th. 


280  STORY    OP   THE    REGIMENT. 

Although  a  day  behind  the  rebels  in  the  start 
of  that  exciting  race,  we  were  now  several  hours 
in  advance.  General  Ewell,  whose  corps  led  the 
opposing  army,  in  his  eagerness  to  strike  our 
flank,  left  the  plain  road  over  which  he  was  march 
ing,  and  penetrated  a  section  of  country  lying  be 
tween  the  railroad  and  the  Warrenton  turnpike. 
It  proved  a  terra  incognita,  in  which  his  entire  corps 
was  lost.  Heath's  Division  came  up  with  the 
rear  of  the  Federal  army  at  Bristow,  and  follow 
ing  close  after  it  to  Kettle  Run,  the  skirmish 
assumed  the  outlines  of  a  fierce  battle,  Heath 
losing  five  pieces  of  artillery,  two  stands  of  colors, 
and  five  hundred  prisoners. 

There  was  something  too  threatening  in  those 
fortified  hights  of  Centerville,  bristling  with  ar 
tillery  and  crowded  with  infantry,  for  General 
Lee  to  come  further  north,  and  his  troops  halted 
south  of  Bull  Run.  The  Federal  army  now  \vell 
in  hand,  General  Meade  at  once  countermarched 
his  troops,  ready  to  accept  battle  wherever  the 
enemy  might  offer  it. 

CUB  RUN,  October  15.  —  Three  hours  after 
reaching  Centerville  Robinson's  Division  moved 
back  along  the  "Warrenton  turnpike  to  Bull  Run. 
The  Eleventh  formed  in  line  to  the  left  of  Stone 
Bridge,  extending  some  distance  down  the  stream. 
Along  this  same  road  the  army  has  twice  re 
treated  in  rout  and  confusion.  The  extreme 
care  with  which  the  pickets  were  stationed ;  the 


THE    REPRIEVED    DESERTER.  281 

strict  orders  given  to  the  men;  and  the  low  tone 
of  voice  in  which  all  commands  passed  down  the 
column,  betokened  danger,  and  seemed  to  point 
to  the  possibility  of  a  third  engagement  on  this 
ill-fated  field.  iSTo  fires  were  allowed  to  be  kin 
dled,  and  with  blankets  spread  on  the  ground, 
we  went  to  sleep,  watching  the  bright  stars 
that  shone  in  the  overhanging  sky.  The  night 
passed  without  the  firing  of  a  shot ;  and  this 
morning  the  Eleventh  moved  to  the  hights  of 
Cub  Run,  where  we  still  remain  in  line  of  battle, 
with  several  large  guns  in  position  on  the  hill 
above  us. 

FRIDAY,  October  16. — Xo  change  since  yester 
day.  The  troops  are  in  line  of  battle  awaiting 
the  movements  of  the  enemy,  who  is  reported  as 
massing  large  forces  directly  in  front. 

To  know  the  meaning  of  Despair  and  Hope 
one  must  have  such  an  experience  as  was  this 
day  afforded  at  the  division  guard-house.  The 
execution  of  Harrison,  convicted  of  desertion  at 
the  battle  of  Fredericksburg,  was  fixed  at  twelve 
o'clock  noon.  We  called  to  see  him  at  ten 
o'clock.  His  countenance  was  haggard  and  care 
worn.  It  was  hard  for  him  to  realize  that  he 
must  die  so  soon;  but  he  saw  no  avenue  of  escape, 
and  had  given  up  all  hope.  Some  time  was  spent 
in  writing  to  his  mother,  begging  her  to  forget 
the  manner  of  his  death,  and  to  believe  that  he 
never  intended  to  desert.  His  personal  effects 
24* 


282  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

were  given  into  our  keeping,  together  with  mes 
sages  for  several  absent  friends.  It  was  now  past 
eleven  o'clock.  The  ambulance  in  which  the 
condemned  was  to  ride  to  the  grave,  and  also 
containing  the  coffin,  had  driven  up  along  the 
roadside;  while  the  beating  of  the  drums,  that 
announced  the  forming  of  the  division  to  witness 
the  execution,  could  be  distinctly  heard.  Every 
thing  was  ready  to  carry  out  the  sentence  of  the 
court-martial,  and  the  officer  only  delayed  for 
the  word  of  command.  Presently  there  came 
the  sound  of  a  horse's  hoofs  clattering  over  the 
hard  stony  road.  It  was  an  aid  from  army  head 
quarters,  not  to  order  the  procession  forward, 
but  bearing  in  his  hands  a  commutation  of  the 
death  penalty.  The  complacent  smile  on  the 
face  of  the  rider  betrayed  the  nature  of  his  mes 
sage  before  it  was  read  aloud  in  the  hearing  of 
the  prisoner.  Harrison  looked  at  the  officer 
for  a  moment  with  a  vacant  stare,  and  then  ex 
claimed,  in  a  wild  and  hurried  manner: 

"  Read  it  again,  won't  you  ?  Does  it  mean  me  ? 
Are  you  sure  there  is  no  other  Harrison  in  the 
army  ?  Am  I  really  to  live  ?" 

His  tongue  refused  to  say  anything  more. 
Nerves  strung  to  the  utmost  tension  now  relaxed  ; 
and,  prostrate  on  the  ground,  the  reprieved  man 
gave  expression  to  feelings  too  deep  for  words  in 
tears  of  joy.  Saw  Harrison  an  hour  ago.  That 
look  of  fixed  despair  was  gone.  The  light  of  hope 


SECOND    BULL    RUN    BATTLE-FIELD.  283 

was  in  his  eye,  giving  him  the  appearance  of 
quite  another  being. 

MONDAY,  October  19. — General  Lee  refuses 
battle,  though  offered  to  him  on  the  field  of  Bull 
Run.  He  is  now  retiring  in  the  direction  of  the 
Rappahannock,  but  will  hardly  be  permitted  to 
do  so  in  undisturbed  leisure.  Five  o'clock  this 
morning  the  First  and  Sixth  Corps  were  moving 
toward  Gainesville  and  Haymarket.  The  route 
was  across  Bull  Run  and  along  the  Warrenton 
pike.  Leaving  the  regiment  halted  near  the 
Henry  House,  took  a  hasty  ride  over  the  ground 
of  the  second  Bull  Run  battle.  It  did  not  look 
as  though  the  foot  of  a  human  being  had  passed 
over  it  since  the  day  of  the  fight.  Boxes  half 
filled  with  ammunition,  and  others  again  entirely 
empty,  knapsacks  stuffed  with  clothing  now  rotten 
and  musty,  and  haversacks  containing  the  moulded 
remains  of  the  last  scanty  issue  of  rations,  lay 
scattered  about  just  as  we  had  seen  them  during 
the  engagement.  From  the  spot  where  the  regi 
ment  halted  on  the  night  of  August  29th,  we 
rode  to  the  extreme  right  of  the  line,  where  the 
division  was  sent  to  the  support  of  Heintzleman. 
Coming  back  over  the  same  path  traversed  by  the 
Eleventh  in  its  rapid  move  to  the  left,  we  stood 
on  Bald  Hill,  and  looked  down  into  the  woods 
out  of  which  poured  the  rebels,  and  over  the 
fields  through  which  they  came,  on  the  afternoon 
of  the  30th,  in  such  overwhelming  masses.  The 


284  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

field  presented  a  loathsome  sight.  Human  hones, 
washed  from  their  shallow  graves  by  the  rains  of 
the  past  year,  covered  the  ground,  telling  more 
plainly  than  the  living  tongue  can  tell  of  the 
horrors  of  war.  The  Eleventh  is  bivouacked  be 
tween  Gainesville  and  Haymarket. 

TUESDAY,  October  20. — After  my  note  of  yes 
terday  was  made,  and  toward  the  dusk  of  even 
ing,  we  became  aware  that  the  enemy  was  in  our 
front,  but  in  what  numbers  it  was  impossible  to 
tell.  A  heavy  detail  of  pickets  from  the  Third 
Division,  and  a  battery  of  four  guns,  advanced 
through  Haymarket,  and  formed  in  line.  Pres 
ently  the  battery  opened  a  quick  fire,  lasting  for 
several  minutes.  Then  all  was  quiet  for  an  hour. 
Another  rail  was  added  to  the  camp-fire,  and  the 
men  laid  down  to  wait  the  developments  of  the 
morning.  But  the  discharge  of  a  single  musket, 
that  soon  multiplied  into  volleys,  brought  every 
man  to  his  post,  ready  to  meet  the  danger.  Again 
the  noise  in  front  ceased,  and  after  extinguish 
ing  the  fire  whose  genial  warmth  was  so  needful 
to  our  personal  comfort,  the  men  once  more  lay 
down  to  sleep.  To  any  one  who  had  seen  the 
dead  of  the  battle-field  arranged  in  rows  for 
burial,  those  ranks  of  men,  wrapped  up  head  and 
foot  in  blankets  and  ponchos,  would  have  sug 
gested  the  thought  of  dead  men  awaiting  sepul 
ture.  This  morning  brings  the  report  that  the 
attack  of  last  night  was  made  by  a  party  of  guer- 


THE  DETECTED  CONSCRIPT.         285 

rillas  who  drove  in  our  pickets,  capturing  thirty 
or  forty  prisoners  and  so  exciting  the  rest  as  to 
cause  them  to  fire  upon  each  other.  The  Elev 
enth  is  now  advanced  a  mile  beyond  Haymarket, 
supporting  a  force  of  cavalry  sent  out  toward 
Thoroughfare  Gap. 

These  rapid  marches  that  we  have  been  making 
for  the  past  few  days  have  been  particularly  hard 
on  the  conscripts — the  "conneys,''  as  the  boys 
call  them  for  short.  They  have  not  yet  learned 
to  march  with  the  same  ease  as  the  old  soldier, 
and  many  of  them  present  a  pitiful  appearance 
in  their  efforts  to  keep  up  with  the  column.  One 
man  particularly,  who  complained  of  a  stiff  knee, 
awakened  our  sympathy  as  he  hobbled  along 
under  a  heavy  knapsack  and  gun.  After  earnest 
solicitation,  an  ambulance  driver  agreed  to  haul 
his  knapsack,  and  when  not  overcrowded  with 
sick,  allow  the  fellow  to  ride.  But  from  the  first, 
the  doctors  suspected  that  it  was  all  pretense,  and 
that  the  man  was  playing  a  part.  Yesterday  even 
ing,  after  the  regiment  halted  for  the  night,  to  be 
certain  of  his  case,  the  soldier  was  taken  into  a  tent 
and  chloroform  administered.  He  had  complained 
that  the  knee-joint  was  so  rigid  from  a  hurt  re 
ceived  in  youth  that  it  would  not  bend.  But  it 
was  found  uninjured,  and  flexible  as  the  other. 
Tying  the  foot  back  so  as  to  bring  the  limb  in  a 
kneeling  posture,  the  conney  was  aroused  to  con 
sciousness.  One  look  at  the  laughing  spectators, 


286  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

and  another  at  his  knee,  was  enough.  He  was 
heard  to  say,  as  he  left  the  tent,  "  Played  out!" 
This  morning  he  was  in  the  ranks,  sound  and 
well. 

THOROUGHFARE  GAP,  October  21. — The  First 
Corps  commenced  moving  late  on  Tuesday.  Cav 
alry  scouts  reported  a  large  body  of  the  enemy 
concentrating  at  White  Plains,  with  the  intention 
of  falling  upon  our  rear,  should  we  keep  up  the 
pursuit  of  Lee  to  the  Rappahannock.  New  tac 
tics  must  now  be  resorted  to  by  the  enemy.  Occu 
pying  this  mountain  pass,  as  we  do,  it  would  be  a 
hazardous  adventure  to  attempt  its  passage.  This 
is  an  interesting  spot  to  the  Eleventh  Regiment, 
not  only  because  several  companies  were  sta 
tioned  in  this  vicinity,  guarding  the  railroad,  in 
the  spring  of  1862,  but  it  is  the  scene  of  our  first 
severe  battle.  As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  the 
march  was  not  to  be  resumed  this  morning,  in 
company  with  Major  Keenan,  we  passed  through 
Chapman's  mill,  the  strong  barricade  of  the 
rebels,  and  on  to  the  hill  above,  across  which  our 
men  drove  the  astonished  enemy. 

"  I  was  standing  here  by  this  rock,"  said  the 
major,  "hurrying  up  the  men  of  Co.  K,  when  I 
was  shot.  I  saw  the  soldier  as  he  raised  his  gun 
and  aimed  directly  toward  me,  and  felt  confident 
that  he  would  hit  me.  But  there  was  such  a  brief 
moment  between  the  look  and  the  shot,  that  per 
haps  I  confound  the  thought  that  he  was  taking 


EXCITING    CAMP    RUMORS.  287 

sure  aim  with  the  fact  itself.     I  was  near  enough 

~ 

to  the  fellow  to  see  his  face,  and  it  is  singular 
how  his  features  remain  fixed  in  my  mind.  I  be- 
lieve  now  that  I  could  distinguish  him  from  a 
regiment  of  Southerners,  though  they  do  look 
so  much  alike." 

FRIDAY,  October  23. — Yesterday  and  to-day 
have  been  days  of  quiet  and  rest.  We  who  are  in 
camp,  trusting  to  the  vigilance  of  a  strong  guard 
of  reliable  pickets  to  keep  off  the  roving  bands  of 
guerrillas  that  infest  these  mountains,  have  given 
ourselves  up  to  discussing  the  various  rumors  of 
the  hour,  exciting  enough  to  arouse  the  utmost 
stoic.  Rosecrans,  whose  very  name  hitherto  has 
been  a  talisman  of  strength,  has  been  relieved 
from  the  command  of  the  Cumberland  Army. 
General  Thomas  succeeds  Rosecrans,  while  to 
General  Grant  is  given  the  command  of  the  de 
partment.  In  the  wake  of  this  dispatch  comes 
the  rumor  that  General  Meade  has  been  removed 
from  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  that  Gen 
eral  Scdgwick  is  to  be  his  successor.  There  is 
the  usual  excitement  among  the  troops  always 
attendant  upon  a  change  in  army  commanders. 
Some  are  loud  in  their  defense  of  Meade,  while 
others  again,  with  equal  warmth,  condemn  him. 
One  thing  is  certain,  General  Meade  has  added 
nothing  to  his  fame  since  the  battle  of  Gettys 
burg,  and  it  is  questionable  if  he  has  the  same 
hold  upon  the  troops  now  that  he  had  then. 


288  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

GETTING    BACK    TO    THE    RAPPAHANNOCK. 

ON  the  25th  day  of  October  the  Federal  army 
was  concentrated  at  Bristow  Station.  General 
Lee  rapidly  retired  before  our  advance,  but  at  the 
same  time  effectually  destroyed  the  Orange  Rail 
road  from  Bristow  to  the  Rappahannock.  A 
further  pursuit  was  impossible  until  this  main 
artery  of  supplies  was  repaired,  and  to  this  one 
object  all  the  resources  of  the  army  were  ap 
plied. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  Confederate  army  strongly 
fortified  the  defenses  at  Rappahannock  Station, 
and  confident  in  the  belief  that  General  Meade 
could  not  make  another  advance  during  the  sea 
son,  had  gone  into  winter  quarters  on  the  south 
bank  of  the  stream.  But  our  cavalry,  without 
waiting  on  the  tardy  movements  of  the  infantry, 
penetrated  the  enemy's  lines,  felt  the  strength  of 
his  position,  and  learned  the  points  of  attack  and 
defense. 

The  relation  of  that  army  to  our  own  was  such  as 
to  warrant  the  belief  that  by  marching  three  corps 
to  Kelly's  Ford,  and  thence  across  the  Rapidan  at 


THE    ELEVENTH    AT    MORRISVILLE.  289 

Germania  Ford,  while  the  two  remaining  corps 
moved  by  way  of  Rappahannock  Station,  the 
rear  of  the  rebel  army  could  be  reached,  and 
Lee's  line  of  communication  with  Richmond 
severed. 

The  new  movement  was  at  once  inaugurated, 
and  with  a  degree  of  spirit  that  of  itself  insured 
success.  The  First,  Second,  and  Third  Corps 
were  to  cross  at  Kelly's  Ford,  and  the  Fifth  and 
Sixth  Corps  at  Rappahannock  Station.  The 
preliminary  move  concentrated  the  corps  at  Cat- 
lett's  Station,  and  on  Saturday  morning,  Novem 
ber  7th,  the  army  was  again  in  motion. 

NEAR  MORRISVILLE,  November  7. — Six  o'clock 
this  morning  the  Eleventh  Regiment  was  bring 
ing  up  the  rear  of  Robinson's  Division.  It  was 
understood,  before  leaving  Catlett's,  that  a  grand 
movement  was  in  contemplation  that  might  take 
us  further  south  than  the  army  had  yet  essayed 
to  go.  We  are  now  within  five  miles  of  the 
river  at  Morrisville,  a  cluster  of  houses  near  the 
junction  of  the  roads  leading  to  Kelly's  Ford  and 
Falmouth.  A  part  of  our  forces  have  already 
reached  the  river,  as  heavy  firing  is  heard  in  that 
direction.  The  night  air  is  cold  and  chilly,  re 
minding  us  of  the  comforts  of  stoves  and  fire 
places  that  we  had  gathered  around  us  during 
our  stay  at  Bristow. 

BRANDY  STATION,  Sunday,  November  8. — The 
clear,  shrill  blast  of  the  bugle,  sounding  from 

25 


290  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

brigade  headquarters  at  four  o'clock  this  morn 
ing,  cut  short  our  slumbers,  and  from  the  land  of 
dreams  brought  us  back  to  the  realities  of  a  fall 
campaign.  Half  an  hour  later,  the  Eleventh  was 
leading  the  division  in  the  march,  and  the  division 
leading  the  corps.  The  direction  in  which  the 
army  is  moving,  and  the  prospect  ahead,  always 
make  a  difference  in  the  conduct  of  the  men.  At 
other  times  lively  and  hilarious,  awake  to  every 
thing  that  can  provoke  a  criticism,  and  ready  to 
laugh  at  it,  when  the  enemy  is  in  front,  and  a  battle 
imminent,  a  quiet  that  of  itself  becomes  solemn 
possesses  the  most  garrulous.  Every  one  is  in 
communion  with  himself;  and  what  thoughts  are 
born  of  those  silent  moments;  what  high  resolves 
are  formed,  or  what  earnest  prayers  go.  up  to 
Heaven,  are  only  known  to  Him  who  can  read 
man's  heart.  It  was  so  this  morning.  The  troops 
were  marching  toward  the  river  through  a  deep 
pine  forest,  the  slow  firing  in  front  telling  of  the 
presence  of  the  enemy,  and  for  more  than  an 
hour  scarcely  a  word  was  spoken  that  disturbed 
the  current  of  our  meditations. 

The  fight  of  yesterday  afternoon  was  for  posses 
sion  of  the  river  crossing,  in  which  the  enemy  lost 
a  pontoon  bridge,  four  pieces  of  artillery,  and 
twelve  or  fifteen  hundred  men  in  killed  and  pris 
oners.  On  our  arrival  at  the  river  hill,  the  Third 
Corps  was  passing  over  under  cover  of  the  artillery, 
and  toward  ten  o'clock  all  the  troops  were  across 


BIVOUAC    ON    AUBURN    FARM.  291 

moving  up  the  south  side  to  Rappahannock  Sta 
tion.  The  passage  of  the  river  at  Kelly's  Ford 
flanked  the  strong  position  at  the  railroad  bridge, 
causing  the  enemy  in  front  of  the  Fifth  and 
Sixth  Corps  to  fall  back  to  Culpeper.  The  army, 
thus  united,  moved  to  Brandy  Station  in  long 
battle  lines,  sweeping  across  the  entire  plain,  and 
presenting  a  sight  of  great  animation.  Here  we 
are  in  bivouac,  with  our  faces  toward  Culpeper. 
The  Eleventh  occupies  a  part  of  the  grounds  of 
John  Minor  Botts.  In  our  frequent  marches  over 
this  disputed  territory,  the  troops  have  often  been 
compelled  to  make  a  detour  of  many  weary  steps 
to  save  passing  through  the  fields  of  this  im 
portant  individual.  During  the  late  retrograde, 
three  thousand  rebel  cavalry  halted  for  the  night 
on  Auburn  farm,  burning  up  the  fence-rails,  and 
appropriating  to  their  own  use  a  plentiful  supply 
of  corn  and  oats.  The  soldiers  have  never  had 
the  same  respect  for  Botts  that  army  commanders 
appear  to  entertain ;  and  no  tears  are  shed  over 
the  losses  that  are  said  to  make  the  irate  old 
Virginian  more  crusty  than  ever. 

NEAR  LIBERTY,  Tuesday,  November  10. — Yes 
terday  passed  in  comparative  quiet  until  an  hour 
before  sundown,  when  with  an  alarming  sud 
denness  the  whole  army  was  in  motion.  It  only 
made  the  excitement  greater  to  observe  that  in- 

O 

stead  of  moving  to  Culpeper,  we  were  taking  the 
backward  track  toward  the  Rappahannock.    Ar- 


292  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

tillery  and  wagons  made  the  most  of  the  good 
roads,  as  the  very  spirit  of  Jehu  took  possession 
of  the  drivers. 

"Another  race  for  Manassas,"  whispered  the 
brigade  commissary,  as  he  rode  past  to  take 
charge  of  his  supply  train. 

When  we  reached  the  north  bank  of  the  river 
it  was  discovered  that  only  the  First  Corps  was 
on  the  wing,  and  that  instead  of  Manassas  as  its 
destination,  the  corps  was  to  be  placed  along  the 
line  from  the  Rappahannock  to  Warrenton  Junc 
tion.  A  detachment  of  four  regiments  and  a 
section  of  artillery,  under  command  of  Colonel 
Coulter,  is  stationed  at  this  point,  reached  last 
night  at  ten  o'clock. 

It  is  the  intersection  of  three  roads,  one  lead 
ing  to  the  upper  fords  of  the  river,  another  direct 
to  Warrenton,  and  a  third  running  parallel  to 
the  railroad,  and  at  present  used  by  our  trains 
in  conveying  supplies  to  the  front.  From  the 
location  of  Liberty,  the  special  duty  of  the  de 
tachment,  as  may  be  inferred,  is  to  fill  up  a 
gap  through  which  Stuart  or  Moseby  might  fall 
upon  our  wagons,  or  capture  the  stores  at  Beal- 
ton  Station,  two  miles  distant. 

FRIDAY,  November  13. — Our  camp  is  in  the 
midst  of  a  pine  forest,  whose  trees  have  been  cut 
out  to  make  room  for  the  quarters  of  officers  and 
men;  while  a  fence,  constructed  of  green  pine 
boughs,  incloses  the  entire  space.  Just  now  the 


CAMP    NEAR    LIBERTY.  293 

weather  has  all  the  genial  warmth  of  a  Northern 
Indian  summer;  and  if  soldier  life  were  ever  like 
that  we  have  been  living  for  the  past  few  days,  war 
would  not  be  a  frightful  thing.  There  is  only 
enough  of  actual  danger  to  make  the  pickets 
watchful,  and  prevent  the  men  from  straying  too 
far  from  camp.  Passing  down  the  several  com 
pany  streets  this  evening,  beginning  with  Co.  A 
on  the  right,  and  ending  with  Co.  B  on  the  left, 
you  might  notice  at  the  head  of  each  street,  ex 
cept  one,  comfortable  board  shanties,  the  quarters 
of  the  several  line  officers.  The  exception  is  Co.  G-. 
Our  boys  have  come  to  believe  that  in  some  way 
or  other  the  movements  of  the  regiment  are  con 
nected  with  the  building  of  Captain  McGrew's 
quarters.  For  a  long  time  past  it  has  been  ob 
served  that  at  the  moment  the  captain  has  fin 
ished  fixing  up  for  a  lengthy  stay  in  camp,  orders 
to  march  have  been  received.  Neither  officers 
nor  men  have  the  slightest  disposition  to  leave 
Liberty;  and  as  a  condition  that  he  will  be  in  no 
hurry  to  complete  his  house,  Captain  McGrew 
is  the  guest  of  all  the  other  companies,  entitled 
to  the  choice  seat  at  table,  and  the  extra  blanket 
at  night. 

SUNDAY,  November  15. — A  heavy  rain  last  night, 
with  thunder  and  lightning.  To-day  the  weather 
is  cool  and  cloudy.  Most  of  the  Eleventh  is  out 
of  camp  on  special  duty,  giving  to  our  quarters 
an  unusual  quiet.  A  soldier  belonging  to  the 
25* 


294  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

Ninth  New  York  died  suddenly  this  morning, 
and  was  buried  an  hour  ago.  There  is  some 
thing  touchingly  sad  in  these  army  funerals; 
not  that  they  are  wanting  in  feeling,  or  in  any 
of  the  respect  which  the  living  everywhere  pay 
to  departed  friends.  But  do  the  best  we.  can, 
and  it  is  only  a  rough  sepulture.  A  blanket  is 
at  once  winding-sheet  and  coffin.  Sometimes 
in  an  obscure  corner  of  the  camp,  and  again 
along  the  roadside,  a  square  trench  receives  the 
remains.  A  rude  board,  unskillfully  inscribed 
with  name,  company,  and  regiment,  may  tell 
who  lies  there,  but  far  more  frequently  even 
this  is  wanting;  and  there  is  nothing  to  distin 
guish  the  grave  of  a  brave  soldier  from  the  com 
mon  earth  that  surrounds  it. 

WEDNESDAY,  November  18. — There  has  been 
no  little  excitement  in  camp  during  the  last  three 
days.  Sunday  morning  one  of  our  men  went  to 
a  farm-house  near  by  to  purchase  something  for 
the  mess.  The  farmer  would  not  allow  him  to 
alight;  but  pointing  to  three  horses  tied  up  at  a 
residence  quarter  of  a  mile  distant,  told  him  they 
were  Moseby's  guerrillas,  and  to  make  his  way 
back  to  camp  as  fast  as  possible.  The  farmer 
himself  has  been  suspected  of  belonging  to 
Moseby,  and  was  given  to  understand  that  he 
would  be  held  responsible  for  attacks  on  the 
pickets,  or  any  of  the  men  near  his  premises, 
which  may  have  been  the  reason  of  his  anxiety 


AFTER   THE   GUERRILLAS.  295 

for  the  safety  of  Mike.  From  the  manner  in 
which  both  rider  and  horse  came  panting  into 
camp,  the  farmer's  instructions  must  have  been 
obeyed  to  the  letter.  A  party  went  out  in  pur 
suit  of  the  guerrillas,  scouring  the  country  for 
several  miles.  The  road  they  had  taken  was 
readily  shown  by  those  of  whom  inquiry  was 
made;  but  in  every  instance  certainly  the  wrong 
one,  for  nothing  could  be  seen  of  the  flying 
horsemen.  Monday  morning  the  whole  field 
and  staff  of  the  Eleventh,  with  the  addition  of 
several  cavalrymen,  renewed  the  search,  with  no 
better  success.  To-day  the  picket  line  was  se 
cretly  extended,  taking  in  several  of  the  sus 
pected  houses,  and  the  three  gentlemen  who 
have  been  prowling  about  our  camp  since  Sun 
day,  were  taken  prisoners.  They  were  on  foot 
when  captured,  and  armed  with  navy  revolvers. 
Guerrilla  warfare  is  little  better  than  cowardly 
assassination.  If  General  Meade  will  send  the 
prisoners  to  the  detachment  stationed  at  Liberty 
for  proper  punishment,  the  census  of  Virginia 
will  be  reduced  by  three  before  morning. 

THURSDAY,  November  19. — Expecting  a  speedy 
move.  The  paymaster  has  been  here  to-day, 
paying  off  the  regiment  for  the  months  of  Sep 
tember  and  October.  Then  there  has  been  a 
canceling  of  the  conditions  between  Captain 
McGrew  and  the  line  officers,  and  the  headquar 
ters  of  Co.  G  are  nearly  completed.  It  hap- 


29G  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

pened  in  this  wise:  The  captain's  negro  man, 
lost  during  the  night  of  our  march  to  Liberty, 
and  carrying  with  him  the  entire  commissariat 
of  his  master,  suddenly  turned  up  to-day,  minus 
everything  but  a  handleless  coffee-pot.  The 
captain  insisted  on  including  Bob  in  the  liberal 
conditions  made  for  his  own  easy  subsistence. 
But  the  party  of  the  second  part  strongly  de 
murred,  saying  many  things  of  the  looks  and 
habits  of  the  African  in  question  neither  com 
plimentary  nor  polite.  The  result  was  a  disso 
lution  of  the  social  compact  between  the  Captain 
of  Co.  G  and  the  other  line  officers  of  the  Elev 
enth  Regiment. 

The  delightful  fall  weather  still  continues. 
When  the  sun  goes  down,  the  frosty  evening  air 
is  tempered  by  the  huge  fires  burning  through 
out  the  camp,  and  around  which  the  men  gather 
in  groups.  The  conversation  is  more  generally 
retrospective  than  prospective;  suggested,  pos 
sibly,  by  the  presence  of  one  whose  arm  or  leg 
has  not  quite  recovered  from  some  serious  wound, 
and  who  now,  in  the  midst  of  attentive  listeners, 
recounts  the  mishaps  of  past  battles.  Xoble,  of 
Co.  A,  and  Murdock,  of  Co.  E,  were  both  re 
ported  killed,  the  latter  at  Thoroughfare  Gap, 
and  the  former  at  Bull  Run.  Xoble  was  left  on 
the  battle-field  nearly  a  week.  Toward  evening 
of  the  day  of  the  fight,  a  Confederate  soldier 
came  along  and  placed  near  him  a  haversack 


ADVENTURES    OF    THE    WOUNDED.  297 

tolerably  well  filled,  and  a  canteen  of  water. 
Fortunately  for  Noble,  he  bad  fallen  near  a  clump 
of  bushes,  which  afforded  ample  shade  during  the 
heat  of  the  day.  With  his  haversack  and  can 
teen,  he  began  to  calculate  that  although  a 
Minie  ball  had  penetrated  his  side,  producing  a 
painful  wound,  and  entirely  disabling  him,  his 
chances  for  living  were  still  tolerably  fair.  Next 
day  another  rebel  soldier  passing  that  way,  gave 
it  as  his  opinion  that  the  sergeant  would  die  in 
exactly  three  hours ;  and  lest  they  should  fall 
into  more  worthless  hands,  relieved  him  of  haver 
sack  and  canteen.  Then  he  was  compelled  to 
beg  of  those  that  lingered  around  the  battle-field 
for  the  sake  of  the  spoils.  One  gave  him  a  drink 
of  water,  another  a  cracker,  and  a  third  put  a 
blanket  under  his  head.  Two  days  later  three 
or  four  Virginia  soldiers  came  along  in  company, 
one  of  whom  wanted  his  shoes. 

"No,"  said  Noble;  "these  are  all  I  have,  and 
you  can't  get  them."  "But  see  here,  Yankee," 
replied  the  Southerner,  "you'll  die  anyhow  to 
morrow.  My  shoes  are  all  worn  out ;  yours  are 
good,  and  I  will  have  them."  He  then  stooped 
down  and  began  to  untie  Noble's  shoes.  "No 
doubt,"  retorted  the  wounded  Federal,  "you  are 
a  brave  fellow.  Only  a  brave  soldier  like  you 
are  would  take  the  shoes  from  a  man  unable  to 
help  himself.  You  always  bring  up  the  rear 
guard  in  time  of  battle,  don't  you  ?"  The  com- 


298  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

panions  of  the  Confederate,  who  had  been  look 
ing  on  all  the  while,  raised  a  loud  laugh,  and  the 
Virginian  walked  away,  leaving  the  sergeant  in 
possession  of  his  shoes.  On  the  sixth  day,  one 
of  our  ambulances,  sent  out  under  a  flag  of  truce 
to  bring  off  the  wounded,  passed  near  him.  He 
called  to  the  driver  and  begged  to  be  taken  up. 
But  the  ambulance  had  already  a  full  load,  and 
the  driver  said  he  would  take  no  more.  The 
offer  of  money,  however,  touched  the  fellow's 
heart  sooner  than  the  wounded  man's  condition, 
and  a  comfortable  passage  was  secured  to  one  of 
the  Washington  hospitals. 

Sergeant  Murdock  was  reported  killed  at 
Thoroughfare  Gap.  He  was  shot  through  both 
legs  at  the  moment  our  men  were  retiring 
from  the  hill  from  which  they  had  driven  the 
enemy.  After  laying  for  some  time  in  a  par 
tially  unconscious  state,  he  became  aware  of 
some  one  coming  toward  him.  It  was  a  rebel 
picket,  feeling  his  way  slowly  over  the  rough  and 
uneven  ground.  The  Southerner  had  raised  his 
gun,  ready  to  shoot,  when  a  groan  brought  him 
to  the  side  of  the  wounded  Federal.  Between 
the  two  thus  introduced,  there  sprung  up  the 
most  kindly  feeling,  and  in  his  new  friend  Mur 
dock  found  a  protector  against  several  fellows  of 
the  baser  sort,  who  shortly  after  arrived,  plun 
dering  the  living  as  well  as  the  dead.  From 
Thoroughfare  Gap  he  was  conveyed  to  Warren- 


THE    END    OF    A    PRACTICAL    JOKE.  299 

ton,  the  rebel  general  hospital,  and  was  there  on 
the  26th  of  the  following  September,  when  the 
town  was  captured  by  our  cavalry.  A  week  or 
so  prior  to  that  attack,  a  visit  from  the  Yankees 
was  hourly  expected.  Then  came  wild  stories, 
that  Washington  and  Baltimore  were  in  posses 
sion  of  Southern  troops,  and  that  Lincoln  and  his 
Cabinet  had  fled  to  Philadelphia.  The  Yankees 
were  entirely  forgotten,  and  everybody  gave 
themselves  up  to  the  joys  of  the  hour.  One  tine 
afternoon,  a  number  of  ladies  were  visiting  the 
hospital.  Some  young  Southern  beaus,  who  bad 
been  watching  from  the  cupola  of  the  building  a 
squadron  of  cavalry  going  through  the  quick 
evolutions  of  the  drill,  came  down  in  apparent 
alarm,  and  announced  that  the  Yankees  were 
approaching  the  town  in  force.  Of  course  the 
ladies  were  frightened,  and  the  gentlemen  too, 
not  in  the  secret  of  the  joke.  But,  alas  for  the 
jokers,  the  cavalry  force  they  had  supposed  to  be 
their  own,  were  genuine  Yankees,  and  in  less 
than  half  an  hour  the  town  was  in  our  posses 
sion! 

FRIDAY,  November  20. — Yesterday  afternoon 
a  young  lady,  attended  by  an  ancient  negro,  came 
into  camp,  asking  the  services  of  a  physician  in 
behalf  of  her  mother.  It  was  too  late  an  hour  in 
the  day  at  once  to  accompany  the  lady  to  her 
home ;  but  after  leaving  explicit  directions  how 
to  tind  the  house,  she  was  dismissed  with  the  as- 


300  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

su ranee  that  the  doctor  would  see  her  mother  in 
the  morning.  The  lady  was  sincere  enough  to 
say  that  guerrillas  were  frequently  seen  in  the 
neighborhood  in  which  she  lived,  and  begged  of 
the  surgeon  not  to  come  alone.  It  would  be 
better  to  come  in  such  numbers  as  either  to  over 
awe  an  attack  or  be  able  to  resist  it.  It  cannot 
be  said  that  no  suspicions  were  entertained  as  to 
the  designs  of  the  fair  visitor.  Some  accused 
her  of  acting  the  part  of  a  spy,  and  regarded  the 
guerrilla  story  as  made  up  to  deceive.  Others  de 
clared  that  the  intention  was  to  invite  all  the 
mounted  officers  belonging  to  the  regiment  out 
of  camp,  and  then  make  a  wholesale  capture  of 
them.  It  was  at  last  decided  that  if  guerrillas 
were  so  near  camp  we  had  better  know  it;  and 
if  the  young  lady  were  an  accomplice,  she  ought 
to  be  secured  before  imparting  to  them  any 
knowledge  she  might  have  gained  by  coming 
within  our  lines. 

Fully  armed  and  equipped,  a  party  of  ten, 
under  command  of  Captain  Haines,  started  this 
morning  through  the  woods  and  over  the  fields, 
two  miles  beyond  the  picket  lines,  to  the  resi 
dence  of  Mrs.  Kelley.  It  is  an  old  Virginia 
mansion,  large  enough  in  its  dimensions  to  recall 
the  halcyon  days  of  Virginia  hospitality.  Within 
and  without  everything  indicated  taste  and  re 
finement.  The  captain  had  observed  the.  pre 
caution  of  posting  a  part  of  the  escort  outside  of 


THE  DOCTOR'S  OUTSIDE  PATIENT.          301 

the  house  to  give  alarm  in  case  of  danger.  Thus 
secure  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  conversation  of 
two  intelligent  ladies  (the  mother  did  not  prove 
to  be  seriously  indisposed),  interspersed  with  de 
lightful  music  by  the  younger,  an  hour  passed 
rapidly  away.  It  was  like  suddenly  transplant 
ing  us  from  the  roughness  of  soldier  life  to  all 
the  kindly  endearments  of  home.  As  we  bid 
adieu  to  those  who  had  made  us  so  happy,  and 
turned  our  faces  camp  ward,  we  laughed  at  our 
unfounded  suspicions,  and  sincerely  wished  that 
the  doctor  might  have  many  such  patients. 

SATURDAY,  November  21. — It  is  a  serious  ques 
tion  whether,  after  all,  the  pleasant  termination 
of  yesterday's  adventure  was  not  owing  more  to 
good  fortune  than  prudence.  The  events  of  to 
day  have  almost  confirmed  the  first  suspicions 
entertained  of  the  young  lady  who  visited  our 
camp  on  Thursday,  and  that  a  few  hours  ago  we 
were  so  ready  to  laugh  away.  A  party  of  guer 
rillas,  variously  estimated  at  seventy-five  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty  strong,  just  now  attacked  a 
supply  train,  under  escort  of  a  small  cavalry 
force.  The  guard  was  overpowered,  and  taking 
refuge  in  flight,  fell  back  on  the  first  line  of 
pickets.  The  guerrillas  were  dressed  in  blue 
overcoats,  and  before  they  could  be  distinguished 
from  our  own  men,  succeeded  in  capturing  five 
or  six  of  the  infantry  pickets.  The  alarm  soon 
became  general,  and  the  whole  detachment  was 

26 


302  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

speedily  under  arms.  But  after  robbing  their 
prisoners  of  money,  overcoats,  and  haversacks, 
and  with  eighteen  mules  and  four  horses,  Moseby 
was  off  as  suddenly  as  he  came.  A  cavalry  force 
was  sent  out  in  immediate  pursuit,  and  a  second 
squadron  is  preparing  to  follow. 

Was  the  young  lady  an  accomplice  of  these 
thieving  fellows,  and  did  she  really  intend  to 
lead  us  into  the  hands  of  this  party,  whose  ar 
rival  she  had  calculated  a  day  too  soon  ?  Ap 
pearances  are  certainly  much  against  her,  and 
in  the  absence  of  positive  proof,  we  have  con 
cluded  to  decline  the  very  polite  invitation  to  call 
again ! 

SUNDAY,  November  22. — Three  or  four  of  the 
guerrilla  party  that  entered  our  lines  yesterday 
have  been  captured.  It  scarcely  admits  of  a  doubt 
that  these  robbers  are  citizens  of  the  immediate 
vicinity,  so  familiar  with  every  nook  and  corner 
that  their  capture  in  any  numbers  is  next  to  im 
possible.  Those  captured  to-day  were  taken  in 
the  very  act  of  changing  the  attire  of  the  soldier 
for  that  of  the  farmer. 

An  hour  after  sundown  orders  were  received 
to  be  ready  to  march  to-morrow  morning.  The 
men  are  now  engaged  in  cooking  the  extra  ra 
tions  that  have  been  issued,  and  a  buzzing  noise 
is  heard  throughout  the  camp,  in  strong  contrast 
with  the  former  repose  of  the  day.  For  some 
reason,  as  yet  unexplained,  General  Meade's  late 


PREPARING    TO    MARCH.  303 

crossing  of  the  Rappa bannock,  though  a  com 
plete  surprise  to  the  enemy,  resulted  in  nothing 
more  than  the  army  occupying  its  old  position 
around  Culpeper.  It  was  a  small  advantage  to 
be  purchased  at  the  loss  of  a  good  many  lives; 
and  in  the  opinion  of  leading  generals,  a  great 
mistake  was  committed  in  not  following  out  the 
original  plan  of  pushing  across  the  Rapidan  and 
attacking  the  rebel  rear.  The  order  received 
this  evening  does  not  give  the  line  of  march; 
but  it  is  intimated,  now  that  the  railroad  is  fin 
ished  to  Brandy  Station,  that  the  Rapidan  is  to 
be  forded  at  several  points,  and  an  earnest  effort 
made  to  reach  Gordonsville. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE    MINE    RUN    CAMPAIGN. 

RAPPAHAXXOCK  STATION,  Wednesday,  Novem 
ber  25. — The  entire  army  has  been  halted  here  at 
Rappahannock  Station  since  Monday,  awaiting 
the  holding  up  of  a  cold,  drizzling  rain  that  com 
menced  falling  on  Tuesday  morning.  The  sky 
is  clear  now,  and  with  the  stiff  wind  that  has 
been  blowing  since  noon,  the  roads  must  become 
at  least  passably  good  in  a  few  hours.  There  is 


304  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

no  longer  any  secrecy  about  the  contemplated 
move.  A  Washington  paper  received  this  after 
noon  gives  the  whole  programme.  General 
Meade's  scouts  report  that  the  lines  of  the  enemy 
are  so  formed  as  to  leave  uncovered  all  the 
lower  fords  of  the  Rapidan ;  that  Swell's  Corps 
is  next  to  the  river,  and  Hill's  Corps  in  the  vi 
cinity  of  Orange  Court  House,  leaving  a  space 
between  them  of  seven  or  eight  miles.  Our 
present  object  is  to  gain  this  interval,  prevent  a 
union  between  Ewell  and  Hill,  and  give  them 
battle  in  detail.  "Whatever  is  done  must  be 
done  quickly.  There  is  not  an  hour  to  spare.  It 
is  late  in  the  season,  and  bad  weather  and  bad 
roads  may  be  expected  any  moment. 

SOUTH  OF  THE  RAPIDAN,  November  26. — The 
moon  was  shining  in  a  cloudless  sky  when  we  left 
Rappahannock  Station  this  morning.  After  cross 
ing  the  river  on  the  railroad  bridge,  the  Division 
marched  down  stream.  It  soon  became  known 
that  the  First  Corps  was  to  cross  the  Rapidan  at 
Culpeper  Mines,  while  the  other  corps  crossed  at 
the  several  different  fordings  above.  We  of  the 
Eleventh  did  not  forget  that  it  was  the  national 
thanksgiving  day  on  which  the  movement  was 
inaugurated,  and  our  trust  is  that  God  will  hear 
the  prayers  this  day  offered  up  in  behalf  of  our 
cause.  Our  thanksgiving  dinner  was  eat  during 
a  halt  near  Richardsville;  and  though  it  consisted 
only  of  the  plain  fare  Uncle  Sam  furnishes  his 


SOUTH    OF    THE    RAPIDAN.  305 

men  when  on  a  march,  it  was  with  a  relish,  and, 
let  us  hope,  with  becoming  thankfulness.  It 
was  dark  before  we  reached  the  Rapidan  River. 
Pontoon  bridges  were  at  once  constructed,  and 
the  corps  crossed  to  the  opposite  hights  recently 
occupied  by  the  enemy.  The  bivouac  of  the 
Eleventh  is  near  the  Culpeper  gold  mines.  The 
hour  is  one  for  thought  and  reflection.  We  are 
further  advanced  in  this  direction  than  any  of 
the  infantry  troops  have  yet  marched.  If  the 
movement  proves  a  success,  all  will  be  well ;  if  it 
should  result  in  failure,  it  may  be  a  great  ca 
lamity.  The  men  are  in  good  spirits,  and  en 
thusiastically  cheered  the  dispatch  received  from 
army  headquarters  that  Grant  had  gained  a  de 
cisive  victory  over  Bragg. 

FRIDAY,  November  27. — The  march  was  re 
sumed  this  morning  at  live  o'clock,  over  a  coun 
try  entirely  unknown,  whose  hills  and  ravines 
had  never  before  been  pressed  by  such  an  army. 
In  two  hours  we  struck  the  Germania  and  Fred- 
ericksburg  road.  Our  movements  became  more 
cautious  as  we  were  advancing  through  the 
dreary  and  uncertain  region  of  the  Wilderness. 
Scarcely  had  we  entered  its  thick  growth  of 
dwarfed  oak,  when  far  to  our  right  was  heard 
the  slow  and  measured  reports  of  artillery.  We 
knew  they  were  signal  guns,  and  that  however 
Meade  might  have  deceived  the  enemy  in  the 
crossing,  his  presence  south  of  the  Rapidan  was 
26* 


306  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

fully  known.  Pursuing  the  Fredericksburg  road 
within  five  miles  of  Chancellorville,  the  Elev 
enth  halted"  in  front  of  the  Wilderness  Tavern? 
a  tall  frame  building,  and  one  of  the  bygone  ce 
lebrities  of  this  remarkable  country.  There  was 
some  confusion  in  front,  a  part  of  the  ambulance 
train  of  the  Second  Corps  having  been  decoyed 
from  the  right  road,  and  two  or  three  of  the 
drivers  murdered.  Xear  the  tavern  is  the  resi 
dence  of  Major  Vincent  of  the  rebel  army.  To 
this  house  Stonewall  Jackson  was  conveyed  after 
the  battle  of  Chancellorville.  Some  distance 
beyond  we  left  the  old  turnpike  and  marched 
along  the  Orange  and  Fredericksburg  plank- 
road.  We  are  now  halted  at  Parker's  store, 
where  the  whole  corps  is  concentrated  on  the 
extreme  left  of  the  army.  There  must  have 
been  severe  lighting  by  some  of  our  forces  dur 
ing  the  afternoon.  It  is  nearly  dark,  but  from 
the  direction  of  the  river  every  once  and  again 
comes  the  sound  of  cannon. 

SATURDAY,  November  28. — Two  hours  after 
dark  last  night  Robinson's  Division,  following  the 
Orange  plank-road  half  a  mile  beyond  Parker's 
store,  turned  abruptly  to  the  right  into  a  narrow 
country  road,  leading  through  a  thick  forest.  The 
march  was  continued  for  more  than  an  hour, 
when  we  halted  at  the  junction  of  a  broader  and 
more  clearly  defined  highway.  The  division  was 
formed  in  line  of  battle,  with  the  Eleventh  on 


IN    POSITION    ON    MINE    RUN.  307 

the  right.  "  Colonel,"  said  General  Robinson, 
"tell  your  men  that  the  Second  Corps  is  on  the 
left,  and  the  Fifth  Corps  in  front.  Instruct  the 
pickets  not  to  fire  without  first  giving  the  chal 
lenge."  The  night  passed  without  alarm,  and  at 
daylight  this  morning  the  division,  continuing  its 
march  through  the  woods,  was  massed  with  the 
rest  of  the  First  Corps  near  Robertson's  tavern, 
on  the  old  Orange  turnpike.  Two  hours  later  a 
general  advance  was  ordered.  The  army  is  now 
in  position  along  Mine  Run.  Colonel  Coulter  is 
in  command  of  the  division  reserve,  consisting 
of  the  Ninetieth  Pennsylvania,  Sixteenth  Maine, 
and  Twelfth  Massachusetts,  leaving  the  command 
of  the  Eleventh  to  Major  Keenan.  The  enemy's 
pickets  occupy  an  opposite  crest  of  hills,  so  sin 
gularly  shaped  as  to  make  them  look  like  the 
angles  of  a  fort,  while  between  us  and  them  is  a 

O 

low  marshy  ravine,  through  which  Mine  Run 
flows  to  the  Rapidan.  Heavy  skirmishing  has 
been  going  on  all  day,  and  there  is  every  appear 
ance  of  another  Sunday  battle.  A  cold  drizzling 
rain  has  been  falling  for  several  hours,  making 
us  fearful  of  the  effect  it  may  have  on  these 
Virginia  roads. 

An  incident  occurred  this  morning  which 
clearly  shows  the  vigilance  of  the  troops  here 
marshaled.  Shortly  after  the  Eleventh  had  taken 
its  position  on  the  extreme  left  of  the  line,  a  body 
of  skirmishers  was  seen  advancing  across  the 


308  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

fields.  The  rainy  weather  made  the  atmosphere 
dull  and  hazy,  and  for  a  time  it  was  doubtful 
whether  they  were  friends  or  foes.  The  skirm 
ishers  finally  halted,  and  an  officer  came  within 
speaking  distance.  "Who  are  you?"  " First 
Corps,' "was  the  reply.  "Who  are  you?"  "Fifth 
Corps."  "  All  right,"  said  Major  Keeuan,  "come 
on."  Assured  that  there  was  no  deception,  the 
officer  advanced,  saluted  the  major,  and  informed 
him  that  the  Fifth  Corps  was  approaching  to 
form  on  the  left  of  the  First  Corps. 

SUNDAY,  November  29. — Although  there  has 
been  considerable  activity  in  the  shifting  of  divi 
sions  and  brigades,  no  change  has  been  made  in 
our  battle-line,  nor  has  there  been  any  general  ad 
vance  upon  the  works  of  the  enemy.  The  Elev 
enth  has  been  on  picket  duty  out  in  front  of  the 
lines  since  early  this  morning,  meeting  with  no 
other  casualties  than  private  Swartz,  slightly 
wounded.  This  evening  the  Eleventh  was  added 
to  the  division  reserve. 

MONDAY,  November  30. — Marching  from  our  po 
sition  on  the  left,  the  division  formed  in  line  to  the 
right  of  the  Orange  pike.  Later  in  the  day  Gen 
eral  Robinson  was  directed  to  advance  his  pickets 
across  a  small  stream  (a  branch  of  Mine  Run)  di 
rectly  in  front,  and  build  two  bridges  for  the 
passage  of  artillery  and  troops  in  column.  A 
small  force  of  the  enemy  occupied  the  overlook 
ing  crest,  and  though  they  stubbornly  resisted,  a 


IN    POSITION    ON    MINE    RUN.  309 

detachment  of  the  Ninety-fourth  New  York  drove 
them  awa}'.  Large  working  parties  are  now  en 
gaged  constructing  the  bridges. 

Back  at  the  hospital,  the  day  has  been  one  of 
suspense  and  anxiety.  Several  times  reports  came 
to  the  rear  that  the  troops  were  in  the  act  of  at 
tacking  the  rebel  fortifications,  and  from  the  po 
sition  the  enemy  occupies,  fearful  losses  were 
anticipated.  There  is«more  news  here  than  reaches 
the  front.  This  hospital,  from  its  location,  hap 
pens  to  be  the  rendezvous  of  the  newspaper  re 
porters,  and  already  the  gentlemen  of  the  press 
are  predicting  a  retrograde  move  on  the  part 
of  Meade.  ^The  fight  of  the  Third  Corps, 
Friday  afternoon,  with  a  part  of  E well's  forces, 
not  only  delayed  the  Second  Corps  in  its  march 
to  occupy  the  interval  between  Hill  and  Ewell, 
but  revealed  the  point  of  Meade's  strategy.  Fall 
ing  back  from  the  commanding  position  at  Ro 
bertson's  tavern  to  that  of  Mine  Run,  by  Satur- 
dav  morninsr  the  breach  in  the  rebel  line  was 

»/  O 

closed,  and  whatever  we  do  now  must  be  done 
against  a  force  quite  as  large  as  our  own. 

General  Warren  marched  to-day  to  the  extreme 
left  of  the  line,  and  will  attack  the  rebel  right 
to-morrow  morning.  The  weather  has  grown 
intensely  cold,  causing  much  suffering  among  the 
troops,  especially  to  those  on  the  picket  line, 
where  not  a  spark  of  fire  is  allowed  to  be  kindled. 
Three  men  of  the  last  relief  were  frozen  to  death 
at  their  posts. 


310  STORY   OP   THE    REGIMENT. 

TUESDAY,  December  1. — Last  night  General  Ro 
binson  was  ordered  to  suspend  all  operations  on  the 
bridges  in  front  of  his  line,  and  to  withdraw  the 
pickets  across  the  run.  From  early  morning  until 
this  hour  (noon)  the  men  have  been  waiting  in 
battle-line  for  the  sound  of  Warren's  guns  on  the 
left  as  the  signal  of  a  general  charge.  Not  a 
sound,  not  even  the  crack  of  a  rifle  has  been 
heard  in  that  direction.  Something  has  gone 
wrong,  too  late  to  be  corrected.  The  men  are 
nearly  out  of  rations,  and  our  supply  trains  are 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Rapidan.  In  another 
day  we  must  either  go  back  for  supplies,  or  the 
trains  must  be  moved  to  the  front.  The  former 
is  far  more  likely,  in  the  present  precarious  state 
of  the  weather,  than  the  latter. 

FOUR  O'CLOCK  P.M. — The  First  Corps  is  ordered 
to  march,  by  way  of  Robertson's  tavern,  to  Ger- 
mania  Ford. 

NORTH  SIDE  RAPPAHANNOCK,  NEAR  KELLY'S  FORD, 
December  3. — One  week  ago  the  grand  move 
ment  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  inaugu 
rated.  This  evening  we  are  back  within  a  few 
miles  of  the  starting-point.  However  much  was 
intended,  very  little  in  fact  has  been  accomplished. 
My  last  entry  was  on  Tuesday  afternoon,  at 
the  moment  the  corps  began  its  move  for  the 
river.  We  bivouacked  at  midnight  overlooking 
Germania  Mills,  crossed  the  Rapidan  at  daylight 
Wednesday,  and  took  position  to  cover  the  cross- 


MINE    RUN    ABANDONED.  311 

ing  of  the  Fifth  and  Sixth  Corps.  The  division 
remained  at  the  ford  until  noon  of  Wednesday, 
when  we  marched  to  Stevensburg. 

The  rations  of  the  men  were  entirely  consumed, 
and  every  haversack  was  empty.  "Twenty-five 
cents  for  a  hard  tack,"  was  the  offer  made  after 
the  first  hour's  march.  "Fifty  cents  for  a  hard 
tack,"  became  the  cry  as  the  march  continued. 
"One  dollar  for  a  hard  tack,"  but  even  that 
did  not  bring  it  at  the  hour  of  bivouac.  The 
time  was  in  the  memory  of  some  of  those  same 
men,  who  now  clamored  so  loud  for  hard  tack, 
when  the  commissary  of  Camp  Wayne  was 
treated  to  a  shower  of  the  vilest  epithets  for 
offering  them  such  fare.  "Soft  bread!  soft 
bread!"  was  then  the  cry.  The  crackers  strung 
upon  a  rope,  and  with  which  they  garlanded  the 
neck  of  his  horse,  and  at  last  the  neck  of  the 
commissary,  was  their  estimate  then  of  that  for 
which  they  now  clamored  so  furiously.  The 
officers  were  in  the  same  hungry  plight  as  the 
men.  Imagine  the  headquarter's  mess  of  the 
Eleventh,  composed  of  a  colonel,  a  major,  two 
doctors,  and  a  chaplain,  sitting  down  on  the 
ground,  ten  o'clock  at  night,  to  a  supper  made 
up  of  one  dish  only — a  plate  of  fried  liver.  But 
we  were  better  off  than  brigade  headquarters. 
Their  last  meal  was  taken  in  the  morning,  and 
consisted  of  stewed  dried  apples. 

Even    the  brigade   commissary  was  on   short 


312  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

allowance,  as  the  novel  mode  to  which  he  re 
sorted  to  supply  himself  will  fully  attest.  Rid 
ing  off  some  distance  from  the  troops  to  a  fine- 
looking  residence,  he  represented  himself  to  the 
family  as  an  officer  of  Stuart's  cavalry,  disguised 
in  Yankee  uniform,  the  better  to  watch  the 
movements  of  the  Yankee  army.  Without  a 
question,  he  was  taken  into  their  confidence. 
All  the  information  they  had  was  readily  com 
municated;  and,  better  still  for  the  captain,  pre 
parations  were  at  once  made  for  dinner.  An 
old  colored  woman,  who  overheard  the  conver 
sation,  unperceived  by  the  family  started  off  in 
all  haste  for  the  nearest  body  of  soldiers.  She 
was  not  long  in  finding  some  one  to  listen  to  her 
story,  and  a  lieutenant  and  a  squad  of  men  were 
dispatched  to  make  the  arrest.  The  squad  ar 
rived  at  the  house  as  the  officer  was  sitting  down 
to  the  table.  Expostulation  was  useless.  They 
had  no  time  for  delay,  and  he  yielded  himself  a 
prisoner  to  the  guard.  Taken  beiore  the  corps 
commander,  of  course  he  was  recognized  as 
Captain  Bucklin,  Commissary  of  the  Second 
Brigade;  but  it  was  Captain  Bucklin  without 
his  dinner. 

This  morning,  before  the  march  was  con 
tinued,  a  ration  of  fresh  beef  was  issued,  and  in 
the  strength  of  that  one  meal  the  men  journeyed 
to  our  present  halting-place.  An  hour  ago  the 
wagons  came  up  with  full  supplies.  There  is 


313 


just  now  a  savory  smell  throughout  the  camp  of 
broiling  beef  and  boiling  coffee,  by  no  means 
unpleasant  to  the  olfactory  nerves,  as  the  hos 
pital  steward  likes  to  say. 

SOUTH  SIDE  RAPPAHANNOCK,  December  4. — Un 
expectedly  to  all,  the  first  sound  that  disturbed 
our  camp  this  morning  was  the  bugle  note  to  pack 
up.  We  were  again  to  cross  the  Rappahannock. 
Last  evening,  hungry,  tired,  and  cold,  the  men 
waded  three  feet  deep  to  the  north  bank.  To 
be  called  upon  so  soon  to  repeat  the  cool  opera 
tion,  was  well  calculated  to  ruffle  the  not  very 
even  temper  of  the  soldier;  and  terrible  male 
dictions  were  called  down  on  the  heads  of  all  in 
authority.  But  it  must  be  confessed  that  there 
was  less  grumbling  to-day  than  last  night — the 
difference,  possibly,  between  stomachs  full  and 
stomachs  empty. 

TUESDAY,  December  8. — Without  waiting  for 
orders,  the  men  have  gone  into  winter  quarters. 
Substantial  log-cabins,  with  fire-places  and  chim 
neys,  have  been  constructed  by  all  the  compa 
nies.  At  headquarters  we  have  our  wrall  tents, 
but  no  fire-places.  The  fire  is  on  the  outside, 
and  a  picture  of  our  present  home  would  show 
to  good  effect.  About  a  mile  from  the  Rappa 
hannock,  and  within  a  few  yards  of  the  road 
leading  from  Kelly's  Ford  to  Stevensburg,  would 
be  seen  four  tents,  two  on  a  line,  and  one  on 
each  flank,  facing  inward.  Between  the  tents 

27 


314  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

and  the  road  is  a  fence  of  pine  boughs;  on  the 
other  side  of  the  road  are  the  quarters  of  the 
men.  The  iire  that  burns  night  and  day  in 
front  of  the  tents  deserves  to  be  noticed  because 
of  its  royal  back  log,  ten  feet  long  and  three 
feet  in  diameter,  the  contribution  of  a  noble  old 
white  oak  tree  that  has  lived  in  these  forests 
since  the  days  when  the  red  man  claimed  them 
as  his  own. 


CHAPTER  X. 

ANOTHER    CAMPAIGN    COMPLETED. 

THE  advance  on  Mine  Run  completed  another 
campaign  of  the  war.  The  operations  of  the 
year  had  been  on  a  scale  of  vast  magnitude. 
Beginning  at  Chancellorville,  seven  months  be 
fore,  they  had  extended  twice  across  Virginia, 
through  a  large  part  of  Maryland,  into  the  inte 
rior  of  Pennsylvania,  and  back  again  within  a 
day's  march  of  the  place  of  commencement. 
But  in  its  bearing  upon  the  great  issue — the 
destruction  of  the  rebel  army — it  was  easy  to 
see,  looking  out  from  our  winter  quarters  on  the 
Rappahannock,  that  the  campaign  had  not  ful 
filled  all  its  promises. 


•  THE    FAITH    OF    THE    ARMY.  315 

It  must  be  said,  however,  that  a  better  spirit 
prevailed  throughout  the  army  at  the  close  of 
this  campaign  than  had  marked  the  close  of  the 
last.  There  had  been,  during  the  year,  a  grad 
ual  dying  out  of  the  ruinous  partisan  spirit  once 
so  prevalent.  Without  losing  the  least  respect 
for  the  genius  and  ability  necessary  to  command 
the  army,  each  man  had  more  respect  for  his 
own  well-performed  duties.  The  lesson  had  at 
last  been  learned  that  the  strength  of  the  army 
was  not  in  McClellan,  or  Burnside,  or  Hooker, 
or  Meade,  but  in  the  intelligent  patriotism  of 
the  rank  and  file. 

There  was  also  to  be  noticed  an  increasing 
confidence  in  the  integrity  of  the  government, 
and  in  the  justice  and  humanity  of  those  princi 
ples  lying  at  the  base  of  the  great  conflict.  The 
prophetic  spirit  of  that  strangely  popular  song, 

"John  Brown's  body  lies  mouldering  in  the  grave, 
But  his  soul  is  marching  on," 

now  sung  more  than  ever,  possessed  every  heart; 
and  though  it  might  seem  a  long  and  wearisome 
way  to  the  end,  the  ultimate  triumph  of  the  na 
tional  cause  was  the  accepted  faith  of  the  army. 
The  troops  once  in  winter  quarters,  no  farther 
general  movement  could  be  expected  before  the 
beginning  of  May — five  months  in  the  future. 
But  with  that  very  month  would  commence  the 
expiration  of  the  term  of  enlistment  of  a  large 


316  STORY   OP   THE    REGIMENT. 

proportion  of  the  old  regiments,  and  before  the 
next  spring  campaign  fairly  opened,  the  govern 
ment  would  lose  one-half  of  its  most  available 
force.  It  was  well  for  the  nation  that  the  patri 
otism  of  the  army  was  equal  to  the  emergency; 
and  when  those  men  were  asked  to  re-enlist  for  a 
second  term  of  three  years,  if,  in  yielding  to  the 
request,  there  was  less  enthusiasm  manifested 
than  at  the  first  enlistment,  the  veteran  volun 
teer  proved  that  he  had  lost  none  of  his  devotion 
to  country. 

It  was  provided,  in  addition  to  the  liberal 
bounties  that  a  generous  people  could  well  afford 
to  pay  to  their  noble  defenders,  that  each  veteran 
volunteer  should  be  granted  thirty-five  days'  fur 
lough;  and  that  where  three-fourths  of  a  regi 
ment  re-enlisted,  such  portion  of  the  regiment 
should  go  home  in  a  body,  taking  with  it  arms 
arid  equipments.  The  gallant  old  Eleventh  was 
among  the  first  of  the  Pennsylvania  regiments 
to  answer  this  new  call  of  the  government,  just 
as  it  had  been  among  the  first  to  answer  the  na 
tion's  call  at  the  end  of  the  three  months'  cam 
paign. 

During  the  three  weeks  that  intervened  be 
tween  the  inception  of  this  third  term  of  service 
on  the  part  of  the  Eleventh,  and  its  entire  com 
pletion,  in  the  shiftings  of  the  several  corps,  and 
the  changing  of  the  picket  lines,  marching  from 
Kelly's  Ford  to  Culpeper,  and  from  thence  to 


THE  VETERAN  FURLOUGH.         317 

Mitchell's  Station,  early  in  January  the  regi 
ment  encamped  on  Cedar  Mountain.  We  were 
again  upon  our  first  battle-field;  the  circle  was 
now  complete,  and  from  that  field,  after  spend 
ing  a  few  days  at  Culpeper,  it  was  proper  that 
the  Eleventh  Regiment  should  take  cars,  on  the 
5th  of  February,  for  Alexandria. 

Five  days  later  the  regiment  was  in  Camp 
Curtin,  Ilarrisburg.  From  that  point  the  men 
separated,  in  companies,  and  in  squads,  and 
singly,  to  meet  again  at  the  end  of  the  veteran 
furlough. 


27' 


VIII. 

m 

CHAPTER  I. 

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL    U.  S.  GRANT. 

OLD  Time,  unaffected  by  the  joyous  meeting  of 
long  absent  friends,  and  heedless  of  the  fresh 
griefs  to  be  experienced  at  another  parting, 
abating  nothing  of  his  rapid  flight,  hurried  away 
through  February  and  March  at  his  usual  gait. 

The  veteran  furlough  ended,  the  Eleventh 
once  more  rendezvoused  at  Camp  Curtin.  From 
thence  over  the  familiar  route  through  Balti 
more,  Washington,  and  Alexandria,  and  along 
the  Orange  Railroad  by  the  old  camping  grounds 
of  Manassas,Bristow,  Rappahannock  and  Brandy 
Station,  on  the  last  day  of  March,  after  an  ab 
sence  of  fifty  days,  the  regiment  rejoined  Bax 
ter's  Brigade  at  Culpeper. 

During  the  several  weeks  of  our  Northern  so 
journ  a  large  number  of  recruits  had  been  added 
to  the  regiment,  which  now,  in  dimensions,  looked 
somewhat  like  its  former  self,  numbering  over 
five  hundred  men  present  for  duty.  Many  va 
cancies  were  filled  among  the  commissioned 
(318) 


PROMOTIONS   IN   THE   ELEVENTH.  319 

officers,  and  such  a  general  reorganization  ef 
fected  as  told  favorably  in  the  subsequent  cam 
paigns. 

Lieutenant  Absalom  Schall  was  promoted  to 
be  captain  of  Co.  C,  vice  Captain  Jacob  J.  Bierer, 
honorably  discharged ;  Lieutenant  James  Chal- 
fant,  captain  of  Co.  F,  vice  Captain  E.  H.  Gay, 
deceased ;  Lieutenant  Andrew  G.  Happer,  cap 
tain  of  Co.  I,  vice  Captain  Thomas,  mustered  out 
of  service ;  Jesse  Lauifer,  captain  of  Co.  K,  vice 
Captain  John  Read,  killed  at  Antietam ;  Lieu 
tenant  John  P.  Straw,  first  lieutenant  of  Co.  B, 
vice  Lieutenant  George  Tapp,  discharged  on  ac 
count  of  wounds ;  Sergeant  Enos  E.  Hall,  first 
lieutenant  of  Co.  D,  vice  Lieutenant  Chalfant, 
promoted ;  Lieutenant  Samuel  J.  Hamill,  first 
lieutenant  of  Co.  E,  vice  Lieutenant  Piper,  pro 
moted  ;  Lieutenant  Robert  Anderson,  first  lieu 
tenant  of  Co.  F,  vice  Lieutenant  Kettering,  dis 
charged;  Lieut.  W.  A.  Shrum,  first  lieutenant 
of  Co.  I,  vice  Lieutenant  Painter,  discharged ; 
Quartermaster  Sergeant  Samuel  "W.  Phillips, 
second  lieutenant  of  Co.  B,  vice  Lieutenant 
Straw,  promoted ;  Sergeant  James  Moore,  second 
lieutenant  of  Co.  D,  vice  Lieutenant  Cross,  dis 
charged;  Hospital  Steward  James  J.  Briggs, 
second  lieutenant  of  Co.  E,  vice  Lieutenant  Ha 
mill,  promoted ;  Sergeant  Samuel  McCutcheon, 
second  lieutenant  of  Co.  F,  vice  Lieutenant  An 
derson,  promoted ;  John  Brenneman,  second 


320  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

lieutenant  of  Co.  G,  vice  Lieutenant  Liedtke, 
discharged. 

While  the  Eleventh  was  enjoying  its  well- 
earned  rest  from  active  duties  in  the  field,  and 
thus  preparing  for  the  future,  great  and  import 
ant  changes,  materially  affecting  the  army,  were 
taking  place  at  Washington.  General  IT.  S.  Grant 
had  heen  confirmed  Lieutenant-G-en eral,  and  was 
invested  by  the  President  with  the  chief  com 
mand  of  all  the  national  forces. 

To  those  who  had  known  of  the  petty  jeal 
ousies  and  personal  ambitious  aspirations,  often 
interfering  with  the  wisest  plans,  and  threatening 
the  most  fatal  consequences  to  the  army  and  the 
country,  the  revival  of  the  rank  of  Lieutenant- 
General,  that  placed  Grant  over  all  other  gen 
erals,  and  out  of  the  reach  of  envy  or  inter 
ference,  was  accepted  as  an  assurance  that  the 
same  spirit  which  had  induced  more  than  three- 
fourths  of  the  army  to  re-enlist  for  the  suppres 
sion  of  the  rebellion  pervaded  every  department 
of  the  nation. 

Three  days  before  the  Eleventh  returned  to 
the  front,  General  Grant  established  his  head 
quarters  with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  at  Cul- 
peper,  and  the  work  of  getting  ready  for  the 
spring  campaign  was  at  once  commenced.  Speed 
ily  armed  and  equipped,  the  new  recruits  were 
drilled  four  to  six  hours  each  day,  making  such 
proficiency  in  the  manual  of  arms,  and  in  the 


A   FAREWELL    TO    THE    FIRST    CORPS.  321 

various  evolutions  of  regiment,  brigade,  and  di 
vision,  that  by  the  time  the  spring  suns  had 
dried  up  the  roads,  recruits  and  veterans  were 
one  in  everything  except  the  actual  experience 
of  the  battle-field. 

Instead  of  the  five  corps  with  which  General 
Meade  had  conducted  the  latter  movements  of 
his  last  campaign,  the  army  was  consolidated  into 
three  corps — the  Second,  Fifth,  and  Sixth — com 
manded  respectively  by  Hancock,  Warren,  and 
Sedgwick.  In  this  new  organization  the  old 
First  Corps  was  merged  into  the  Fifth  Corps,  of 
which  Wadsworth's  Division  was  the  first,  Ro 
binson's  Division  the  second,  Crawford's  Division 
the  third,  and  Griffin's  Division  the  fourth.  Re 
tiring  from  the  command  of  the  First  Corps,  with 
which  he  had  been  associated  since  the  death  of 
the  lamented  Reynolds,  General  Newton  ex 
pressed  his  regrets  in  an  eloquent  farewell  ad 
dress,  in  which  the  former  services  of  the  men 
were  acknowledged  and  appreciated : 

"In  relinquishing  command,  I  take  occasion  to 
express  the  pride  and  pleasure  I  have  experienced 
in  my  connection  with  you,  and  my  profound 
regret  at  our  separation.  Identified  by  its  ser 
vices  with  the  history  of  the  war,  the  First  Corps 
gave  at  Gettysburg  a  crowning  proof  of  valor 
and  endurance  in  saving  from  the  grasp  of  the 
enemy  the  strong  position  upon  which  the  battle 
was  fought.  The  terrible  losses  suffered  by  the 


322  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

corps  in  that  conflict  attest  its  supreme  devotion 
to  the  country.  Though  the  corps  has  lost  its 
distinctive  name  by  the  present  changes,  history 
will  not  be  silent  upon  the  magnitude  of  its  ser 
vices." 

In  all  this  new-modeling  and  reorganizing  of 
his  forces,  General  Grant  had  not  overestimated 
the  prowess  of  his  antagonist.  The  army  of 
General  Lee,  composed  of  the  Corps  of  Ewell, 
Hill,  and  Longstreet — the  latter  just  returned 
from  Tennessee — lay  along  and  near  the  south 
bank  of  the  Rapidan,  with  its  flanks  well  pro 
tected  by  the  natural  defenses  of  the  country, 
and  its  front  secured  by  strong  artificial  intrench- 
ments.  The  Federal  commander  could  discover 
no  secret  or  untried  route  leading  to  Richmond. 
The  opposing  armies  were  to  meet  somewhere,  as 
they  had  often  met  before,  and  the  result  of  the 
campaign,  as  seen  from  the  beginning,  was  a 
question  of  martial  endurance. 

The  stirring  address  of  General  Meade,  issued 
on  the  3d  of  May,  was  followed  by  the  bugle 
note  to  march.  At  midnight  the  Fifth  Corps  was 
leading  the  army  over  the  Stevensburg  pike 
toward  the  Rapidan.  The  Sixth  Corps  followed 
after  the  Fifth;  while  the  Second  Corps,  keeping 
down  the  north  bank  to  Ely's  Ford,  was  intended 
to  strike  the  plank-road  near  Chancellorville, 
each  corps  commander  hoping  to  evade  an  en 
gagement  in  the  forlorn  region  of  the  Wilder 
ness. 


THE    SPRING    CAMPAIGN    BEGUN.  323 

Crossing  the  river  at  Germania  Ford,  and 
marching  two  or  three  miles  toward  the  Wilder 
ness  Tavern,  five  o'clock  P.  M.  the  Fifth  Corps 
halted  for  the  night,  the  Eleventh  bivouacking 
in  an  open  field,  and  furnishing  the  picket  de 
tail  for  the  brigade.  To  our  right,  and  some 
times  apparently  in  front,  during  most  of  the 
night,  dull  rumbling  sounds  were  heard,  such  as 
indicated  that  the  enemy,  too,  was  moving.  Five 
o'clock  next  morning  the  march  was  resumed, 
carrying  us  out  to  the  old  turnpike,  in  sight  of 
the  Wilderness  Tavern.  With  every  passing  mo 
ment  it  became  apparent  that  our  further  pro 
gress  was  to  be  contested. 

General  Lee,  ever  watchful,  and  tracing  in  the 
outlines  of  the  opening  campaign  the  energy  of 
the  new  commander,  was  coming  against  Grant 
in  two  columns,  one  along  the  Orange  turnpike, 
and  the  other  by  way  of  the  Fredericksburg  and 
Orange  plank-road.  The  rebel  general  was  in 
tent  on  accomplishing  what  Grant  was  manoeu 
vring  to  avoid,  —  to  intercept  our  southward 
march,  and,  by  striking  his  blows  on  the  flank, 
entangle  the  Federal  army  in  the  Wilderness. 

The  advance  division  of  EwelFs  Corps,  that 
reached  Parker's  store,  immediately  in  front  of 
Warren's  left,  was  the  first  to  become  engaged 
with  parts  of  the  First  and  Fourth  Divisions. 
The  Fifth  Corps,  halting  all  its  regiments,  and 
concentrating  on  the  turnpike,  prepared  for  a 


324  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

vigorous  defense.  The  Sixth  Corps  was  hurried 
to  its  place  on  the  right,  and  the  Second  Corps, 
marching  rapidly  along  the  Chancellorville  plank- 
road,  hastened  to  extend  our  position  on  the  left. 

Sights  not  strange  to  the  veteran  soldier,  but 
new  and  exciting  to  the  recruit,  were  now  to  be 
witnessed.  Divisions  and  brigades,  advancing  at 
a  double-quick,  were  forming  in  line  of  battle,  or 
massing  in  reserve.  Hundreds  of  pioneers,  with 
axes  and  shovels,  were  felling  trees  and  throwing 
up  earthworks,  behind  which  scores  of  cannon, 
unlimbered  and  charged  with  shot,  presented  a 
threatening  array. 

The  first  attack  of  the  Fifth  Corps,  led  on  by 
Wadsworth  and  Griffin,  drove  Ewell  from  all  his 
positions,  and  far  in  from  our  front.  But  meet 
ing  heavy  rebel  reinforcements,  by  a  sudden  turn 
the  enemy  rallied,  and  Wadsworth  and  Griffin 
were  compelled  to  give  way  to  the  enemy. 
Baxter's  Brigade,  with  the  Eleventh  in  front, 
marched  in  quick  time  to  the  extreme  left  at  the 
moment  to  support  the  wavering  lines  of  the 
two  divisions,  and  hold  in  check  the  advancing 
rebels. 

The  storm  of  battle  had  again  broken  out  in 
the  Wilderness,  and  was  sweeping  along  the 
lines  with  increasing  fury.  Lee's  intention  was 
now  more  apparent  than  ever.  It  was  to  turn 
Warren's  flank  before  Hancock,  who  was  march 
ing  from  Chancellorville,  could  come  to  his 


BATTLE  OF  THE  WILDERNESS.       325 

relief.  He  had  so  far  succeeded  in  his  design 
that  Hill's  Corps,  overlapping  Warren,  was  al 
ready  confronting  a  part  of  Hancock's  lines, 
vainly  endeavoring  to  force  him  back  to  the 
river. 

Baxter's  Brigade  was  again  ordered  to  the  left, 
and  together  with  Grifiin's  Division,  marched  to 
the  support  of  Hancock. 

It  was  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  the 
dense  undergrowth  through  which  the  troops 
had  to  feel  their  way  made  it  prematurely  night. 
The  Eleventh,  marching  by  the  flank,  soon  en 
gaged  the  enemy's  skirmishers,  keeping  up  a 
brisk  fire  until  total  darkness  ended  the  contest. 
Uniting  with  Hancock,  and  throwing  out  a  strong 
line  of  pickets,  the  position  was  maintained  until 
the  morning  of  the  6th  of  May. 

At  the  close  of  the  first  day's  fight  the  line  of 
the  Federal  army  extended  along  the  Germania 
Ford  and  Chancellorville  road,  with  the  right 
near  the  river,  and  the  left  near  the  Brock  road 
leading  to  Spottsylvania.  During  the  night  it 
was  determined  to  make  a  simultaneous  attack 
on  the  enemy's  left  by  Sedgwick,  and  on  his 
right  by  Hancock.  Shortly  after  daylight  Han 
cock's  advance  was  undertaken  by  the  Fourth 
Division  of  the  Fifth  Corps  and  Baxter's  Bri 
gade.  It  was  a  bright  May  morning,  and  as 
the  troops  marched  through  the  thick  growth 
of  hazel,  the  rays  of  the  sun,  that  here  and 

28 


326  STORY   OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

there  penetrated  the  deep  shade  of  the  Wilder 
ness,  were  reflected  as  well  from  the  unsheathed 
swords  of  the  officers  as  from  the  muskets  of 
the  men. 

The  first  shock  of  battle  fell  unexpectedly  on 
the  enemy,  causing  his  lines  to  give  way  in  rout 
and  confusion.  No  time  was  lost  by  Hancock 
in  following  up  so  great  an  advantage,  and  occu 
pying  either  side  of  the  plank-road  with  his 
forces,  the  men  pushed  steadily  onward.  In 
that  gallant  advance  General  Baxter  was  se 
verely  wounded  and  taken  from  the  field,  leav 
ing  the  command  of  the  brigade  to  Colonel 
Coulter,  and  the  command  of  the  Eleventh  to 
Major  Keenan. 

Quick  to  see  the  danger  that  threatened  his 
right  flank  by  Hancock's  valorous  assault,  Gen 
eral  Lee  hurried  forward  the  troops  of  Long- 
street's  Corps,  then  arriving  on  the  ground,  and 
placing  himself  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  bri 
gades,  dashed  forward  into  the  wide  and  extend 
ing  breach  in  his  lines. 

It  was  not  a  broad,  open  country  in  which  the 
men  were  fighting,  where  the  movements  of  the 
enemy  could  be  seen  and  promptly  met  by  coun 
ter  movements.  But  every  one  knew  from  the 
galling  fire  poured  in  that  the  enemy,  reinforced, 
was  assuming  other  and  more  advantageous  po 
sitions.  Presently  the  whole  front  lighted  up 
with  deadly  volleys,  and  coming  down  on  our 


first  lines  with  the  force  of  an  avalanche,  the  di 
visions  of  Longstreet  swept  Hancock  back  over 
the  ground  taken  from  Hill,  across  the  plank- 
road,  and  to  the  shelter  of  the  shallow  earth 
works  that  the  troops  had  left  in  the  morning. 

Sedgwick  on  the  right,  at  the  instant  of  mov 
ing  out  his  lines,  received  the  advance  of  Ewell, 
who  had  anticipated  the  Federal  attack.  After  a 
fierce  conflict,  repulsed  at  every  point,  the  rebel 
general  slowly  retired.  Several  hours  later, 
coming  once  more  against  Sedgwick,  the  whole 
Sixth  Corps  was  thrown  forward,  driving  Ewell 
far  back  in  the  Wilderness,  and  firmly  holding 
the  ground  thus  won. 

It  was  now  noon ;  and  from  right  to  left  there 
was  a  lull  in  the  battle.  Each  army,  half  ex 
hausted,  as  if  by  common  consent  was  reposing 
a  moment  to  gather  new  strength  for  a  more  de 
cisive  blow.  Four  o'clock  P.M.  there  came  a 
sharp  rattling  of  musketry  and  a  quick  succes 
sion  of  artillery  reports  from  the  left  of  the  lines. 
It  was  quiet  no  longer.  Longstreet  had  again 
moved  up  to  assault  Hancock  in  the  most  fear 
ful  attack  of  the  day,  and  made  with  a  vehe 
mence  that  threatened  to  ruin  our  left  and  drive 
us  into  the  Rapidan. 

But  foreseeing  where  the  blow  would  fall,  the 
left  had  been  strongly  reinforced  by  Gibbons's 
Division,  to  whom  Colonel  Coulter  was  ordered 
to  report  his  brigade.  The  charge  of  the  rebels, 


328  STORY   OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

though  at  first  successful,  met  by  the  timely  ar 
rival  of  Gibbons,  was  handsomely  checked,  and 
the  enemy  at  last  forced  back  across  the  Brock 
road.  Foiled  a  seccfnd  time  in  his  attempt  to 
turn  our  flank,  and  in  each  instance  suffering 
severely  in  killed  and  wounded,  Longstreet  with 
drew,  and,  to  all  appearances,  the  second  day's 
fight  in  the  Wilderness  was  over. 

General  Lee  had  promised  to  drive  Grant 
across  the  Rapidan  in  three  days.  The  advan 
tage  of  the  fighting  thus  far  had  been  with 
neither  army;  but  to  accomplish  his  undertaking 
the  rebel  general  saw  how  much  still  remained 
to  be  done,  and  in  the  very  last  hour  of  day, 
while  many  a  soldier  was  looking  forward  to  a 
night  of  rest  for  weary  and  aching  limbs,  the 
battle  broke  out  afresh  far  to  the  right. 

With  all  the  stealth  and  quiet  with  which  the 
twilight  was  coming,  a  heavy  rebel  column, 
moving  out  from  behind  its  intrenchments,  fell 
upon  Ricketts's  Division,  holding  the  right  flank 
of  the  Sixth  Corps.  Impetuous  and  sudden,  the 
enemy's  assault  was  successful,  completely  turn 
ing  our  flank  and  cutting  us  oft'  from  Germania 
Ford;  and  but  for  the  promptness  of  officers  and 
men,  might  have  crowned  the  day  with  irretriev 
able  disaster.  But  fresh  troops  strengthened  the 
yielding  line,  until  the  enemy,  first  completely 
checked,  and  then  put  on  the  defensive,  gave  up 
the  contest. 


REBEL    SUCCESSES    ON    THE    RIGHT.  329 

Colonel  Coulter's  Brigade,  a  short  time  before 
united  to  the  division,  from  which  it  had  been 
separated  for  nearly  two  days,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  last  attack  was  ordered  into  position  on 
the  plank-road,  in  rear  of  army  headquarters.  It 
was  the  direction  in  which  the  rebels  were  bear 
ing  down  with  such  frightful  rapidity,  until  ar 
rested  further  toward  the  front. 

The  Federal  battle-line,  after  two  days  of  wave- 
like  advancing  and  receding,  excepting  that  the 
right  was  thrown  somewhat  back,  occupied  the 
same  ground  on  which  the  conflict  had  begun. 
There  was  no  difficulty  in  tracing  that  line 
through  the  most  intricate  and  deeply-tangled 
portions  of  the  battle-field.  It  was  not  the  marks 
of  blood  only  that  guided  us  over  those  six  miles 
from  left  to  right,  but  a  line  of  prostrated  human 
forms,  here  dead,  and  there  dying;  here  still  and 
uncomplaining,  and  there  wild  with  the  delirium 
of  fever  and  the  agony  of  pain.  Scattered  all 
along  the  way,  from  the  Brock  road  to  the  Wil 
derness  Tavern,  lay  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven 
killed  and  wounded  belonging  to  the  Eleventh. 

During  the  quiet  of  the  early  afternoon  the 
roads  had  been  given  to  the  ambulance  corps 
that  came  upon  the  field,  rapidly  loading  up  the 
wagons  with  maimed  and  bleeding  forms.  The 
wounded  of  the  Fifth  Corps  were  placed  under 
charge  of  Surgeon  Anawalt,  with  directions  to 
cross  the  Rapidan  and  proceed  to  Rappahannock 
28* 


330  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

Station,  where  cars  were  in  waiting  to  convey 
them  to  Washington.  But  before  the  first  car 
riage  of  the  long  line  had  made  half  the  distance 
to  the  ford,  the  rebel  assault  on  the  right  cut  us 
off  from  the  river.  The  confusion  was  only  for 
a  moment. 

''Doctor/'  said  an  aid-de-camp  from  General 
Warren,  "you  are  directed  to  take  your  wounded 
men  to  Fredericksburg." 

Turning  short  in  the  road,  and  pushing  forward 
as  fast  as  a  care  for  the  comfort  of  the  men  would 
allow,  a  little  after  midnight  Fredericksburg  re 
ceived  its  first  installment  of  \vounded  from  the 
Wilderness  battle-field. 

The  7th  of  May  dawned  clear  and  bright.  Sev 
eral  hours  of  undisturbed  quiet,  in  rear  of  army 
headquarters,  prepared  the  Eleventh  and  the  rest 
of  the  brigade  for  a  change  of  position  to  the 
support  of  Ricketts's  Division  on  the  extreme 
right.  A  fierce  and  determined  effort  was  to  be 
made  to  retake  the  ground  lost  on  the  previous 
evening ;  and  as  we  marched  to  our  place  early 
in  the  morning,  batteries  were  already  wheeling 
into  line,  preparing  to  open  the  attack  by  a 
shower  of  grape-shot  and  shell.  But  when  at 
last  all  was  in  readiness,  and  with  the  first  volley 
of  our  numerous  cannon  a  heavy  body  of  skirm 
ishers  advanced,  it  was  found  that  we  were  only 
beating  the  air.  The  rebels  had  retreated  from 
our  front,  and  nothing  remained  but  the  line  of 


RACE    FOR    SPOTTSYLVANIA.  331 

rifle-pits  from  which  Ricketts  had  been  driven  to 
tell  the  story  of  their  last  successful  charge. 

Traversing  each  of  the  roads  leading  south 
ward,  the  cavalry  were  employed  in  developing 
the  meaning  of  General  Lee's  sudden  and  unex 
pected  retreat.  He  had  failed  to  make  such  an 
impression  on  the  Union  lines  as  in  any  degree 
to  compensate  him  for  his  own  severe  losses, 
and  observing  the  movement  of  our  wagon 
trains  and  ambulances  toward  Fredericksburg 
as  a  new  base  of  supplies,  Lee  became  alarmed 
for  the  safety  of  his  right  flank,  and  was  march 
ing  with  all  speed  to  secure  the  high  grounds 
around  Spottsylvania  Court  House. 

In  rapid  pursuit  came  the  Army  of  the  Poto 
mac.  The  Fifth  Corps  again  took  the  lead,  with 
Robinson's  Division  in  front.  Filing  out  from 
the  grounds  near  the  Lacey  House,  and  march 
ing  past  the  Second  Corps,  ten  o'clock  P.M.  of 
the  7th  we  struck  the  Brock  road  and  pushed 
on  to  Todd's  tavern.  Few  and  short  were  the 
halts  of  that  long  night  march,  that  tested  to  the 
full  the  endurance  of  every  man. 

Five  o'clock  of  the  next  morning  the  division 
was  within  three  miles  of  Spottsylvania.  But 
the  enemy  moving  on  a  shorter  parallel  road 
further  to  the  west,  with  a  start  of  several  hours, 
headed  us  in  the  exciting  race  for  position. 
Crossing  our  path  was  the  narrow  little  river 
Xy,  and  in  our  front,  disputing  all  further  pro 
gress,  were  the  rebel  skirmishers. 


332  STORY   OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

Time  was  now  more  precious  than  life;  and 
without  a  moment  to  refresh  themselves  after  the 
fatigues  of  a  ten  hours'  march,  the  division  was 
pressed  rapidly  forward,  meeting  in  what  was  re 
ported  as  only  dismounted  cavalry,  Hood's  splen 
did  Division  of  rebel  infantry.  In  charging  over 
the  rough  and  difficult  ground,  and  through  Al 
sop's  farm,  though  many  fell  out  of  the  ranks 
from  utter  exhaustion,  the  troops  steadily  ad 
vanced,  driving  back  the  enemy's  skirmishers 
and  pushing  on  within  seventy-five  yards  of  his 
intrenched  position.  At  every  step  the  rebel  fire 
was  becoming  more  and  more  destructive.  At 
last  it  could  not  be  endured,  and  retiring  first  to 
the  edge  of  the  woods,  and  then  to  the  rear  of 
Alsop's  house,  temporary  defenses  were  thrown 
up,  behind  which  the  troops  took  shelter. 

General  Robinson,  while  gallantly  leading 
the  charge  across  Alsop's  fields,  was  severely 
wounded,  and  carried  from  the  field,  the  com 
mand  of  the  division  devolving  upon  Colonel 
Coulter.  "  The  disabling  of  General  Robinson  at 
this  juncture  was  a  severe  blow  to  the  division, 
and  certainly  influenced  the  fortunes  of  the  day. 
The  want  of  our  commanding  officer  prevented 
that  concert  of  action  which  alone  could  have 
overcome  the  enemy  in  front."* 

But  above  the  loss  of  General  Robinson,  the 

*  Coulter's  Report. 


DEATH  OF  MAJOR  KEENAN.        333 

Eleventh  felt  the  loss  of  Major  John  B.  Keenan, 
shot  dead  at  the  head  of  the  regiment  while  by 
word  and  example  he  was  cheering  forward  the 
men.  Identified  with  the  Eleventh  from  the 
beginning,  and  in  every  time  and  place  display 
ing  all  the  generous  qualities  of  the  true  soldier, 
the  commanding  officer  could  well  say,  not  only 
for  himself,  but  for  the  regiment,  that  "long  ac 
quaintance  led  to  a  full  appreciation  of  Major 
Keenan's  character.  He  was  brave,  cool,  and 
courteous,  and  by  his  personal  exertions  and 
bold  example  nobly  sustained  his  command." 

The  rapid  arrival  of  fresh  troops  enabled  us 
to  hold  the  line  on  Alsop's  farm.  But  when  the 
day  closed  Robinson's  Division  was  nearly  with 
out  an  organization.  In  three  days  it  had  lost 
General  Robinson,  all  of  its  brigade  commanders, 
and  not  less  than  two  thousand  officers  and  men. 
What  still  remained  of  it  was  temporarily  at 
tached  to  the  other  divisions  of  the  corps.  The 
First  Brigade,  Colonel  Lyle,  was  transferred  to 
the  Fourth  Division;  the  Second  Brigade, 
Colonel  Coulter, to  Crawford's  (Third)  Division; 
the  Third  Brigade,  Colonel  Bowman,  was  re 
tained  by  General  Warren  under  his  own  super 
vision. 


334  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 


CHAPTER  II. 

IN    FRONT    OF    SPOTTSYLVANIA. 

LAUREL  HILL,  Monday,  May  9. — The 
remainder  of  yesterday,  until  eight  o'clock  P.M., 
was  spent  in  strengthening  our  intrenchments 
near  the  Alsop  mansion.  Then  the  Eleventh 
was  ordered  some  distance  further  to  the  right, 
passing  the  rest  of  the  night  and  until  noon  of 
to-day  in  erecting  defenses  in  front  of  the  new 
position.  This  afternoon  Robinson's  Division 
was  broken  up,  and  the  brigade  reported  to 
General  Crawford,  of  the  Third  Division,  near 
Laurel  Hill.  We  were  at  once  placed  on  the 
right  of  the  line,  the  Eleventh  (under  command 
of  Capt.  B.  F.  Haines)  connecting  on  the  left 
with  the  Pennsylvania  Reserves.  The  Fifth 
Corps  is  now  in  the  center,  with  the  Second  on 
the  right  and  the  Sixth  on  the  left.  The  enemy 
holds  strong  and  solid  intrenchments  just  over 
against  us,  that  can  only  be  taken  by  the  most 
determined  valor. 

TUESDAY,  May  10. — Our  men  bivouacked  last 
night  behind  a  range  of  formidable  breastworks; 
and  but  for  the  active  preparations  going  on 
around  us,  all  pointing  to  an  early  attack  on  the 


THE    ELEVENTH    ON    LAUREL    HILL.  335 

enemy's  lines,  we  might  have  slept  in  undis 
turbed  security.  When  the  order  came  this 
morning  for  a  general  assault  along  the  whole 
front  of  the  Fifth  and  Sixth  Corps,  there  was  a 
determined  expression  on  the  face  of  every  man, 
answering  to  the  desperate  work  before  him. 

"You  will  advance  your  entire  brigade  in 
support  of  the  line  of  skirmishers,  and  carry  the 
rifle-pits  now  in  front.  Go  on  until  you  come 
upon  the  enemy's  intrenchments,  and  hold  on 
firmly  to  all  you  get.  Take  the  first  line  of  rifle- 
pits  at  all  hazards." 

There  was  no  mistaking  these  orders  sent 
from  General  Crawford  to  Colonel  Coulter. 
Throwing  out  the  Ninety-seventh  New  York  as 
skirmishers,  and  placing  the  Eighty-third  New 
York  and  Eleventh  Pennsylvania  on  the  left  of 
the  line,  the  Eighty-eighth  Pennsylvania  and 
Twelfth  Massachusetts  on  the  right,  and  form 
ing  the  left  wing  of  each  regiment  in  rear  of  the 
right  wing,  the  two  lines  of  the  brigade  moved 
out  to  the  attack. 

The  first  forward  step  developed  the  well- 
directed  fire  of  the  enemy,  but  through  a  shower 
of  bullets,  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  the 
forward  step  was  maintained.  Still  moving  on 
up  the  slope  of  Laurel  Hill,  the  summit  was  at 
last  gained,  and  the  line  of  rifle-pits  that  crowned 
its  crest  gallantly  carried.  Beyond  a  reach  of 
broad  open  ground  were  now  to  be  seen  exten- 


336  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

sive  earthworks  tilled  with  artillery.  Advancing 
within  a  hundred  yards  of  these  intrenchments 
all  further  progress  was  impossible.  The  troops 
had  fought  their  way  to  that  point,  not  with  en 
thusiastic  cheers,  but  with  steady  and  persistent 
determination.  Colonel  Coulter  reported  to 
General  Crawford  that  he  had  taken  the  rifle- 
pits  of  the  enemy,  but  could  go  no  further. 

"Tell  the  colonel  to  hold  the  line  where  he 
is,"  was  the  reply. 

And  though  the  rebel  artillery  swept  the  area 
in  our  front,  and  a  severe  musketry  tire  was 
concentrated  upon  the  men,  the  line  was  held 
from  noon  until  five  o'clock.  Two  brigades  of 
Gibbons's  Division,  Second  Corps,  then  came  to 
our  relief,  and  Coulter's  Brigade  retired  twenty 
or  thirty  yards  to  the  rear.  With  the  line  thus 
reinforced,  an  hour  later  there  was  a  second  at 
tempt  to  carry  the  enemy's  position ;  but  no  ad 
vance  could  be  made  beyond  the  ground  already 
secured.  At  dusk  the  Pennsylvania  Reserves 
were  sent  to  the  right  of  Gibbons,  and  Coulter's 
Brigade  ordered  back  within  the  breastworks, 
where  we  are  at  present  resting.  When  we 
marched  out  from  these  defenses  this  morning 
the  brigade  numbered  nine  hundred  men.  Two 
hundred  and  twenty-nine  have  been  killed  and 
wounded  in  the  narrow  space  in  our  front  of  less 
than  half  a  mile. 

THURSDAY,   May    12. — Another   unsuccessful 


THE    ELEVENTH    ON    LAUREL    HILL.  337 

attempt  has  been  made  to  dislodge  the  enemy 
from  Laurel  Hill.  Yesterday  and  last  night 
were  occupied  in  remodeling  and  extending  our 
defenses.  After  dark,  in  the  midst  of  a  heavy 
rain-storm,  the  Second  Corps  commenced  mov 
ing  toward  the  left,  leaving  our  brigade  on  the 
extreme  right  flank.  This  morning  dawned 
with  fierce  fighting  in  front  of  Spottsylvania, 
the  roar  of  musketry  passing  slowly  from  left 
to  right  until  every  part  of  the  line  was  engaged. 
At  the  hight  of  the  battle,  Coulter's  Brigade 
was  ordered  to  the  support  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Reserves,  who  were  seen  a  moment  before 
to  pass  over  the  intrenchments  to  attack  the 
rebels  in  front.  The  Reserves  hardly  reached 
the  crest  of  the  hill  until  the  same  staggering 
fire  that  told  so  fearfully  upon  our  ranks  on  the 
morning  of  the  10th,  was  again  experienced. 
The  enemy  was  as  strong  and  watchful  as-  ever. 
Following  after  the  first  line,  and  a  little  to  the 
right  of  its  former  position,  the  brigade  ad 
vanced  a  short  distance  beyond  the  Reserves, 
the  men  protecting  themselves  from  the  rebel 
fire  by  the  peculiar  formation  of  the  ground. 
Toward  noon  we  were  again  withdrawn  to  the 
intrenchments,  but  leaving  behind  on  that  fatal 
hill,  as  an  additional  sacrifice  to  its  evil  genius, 
seventy-five  men. 

SATURDAY,  May  14. — The  uncertainty  hanging 
over  all  our  movements  since  we  crossed  the 

29 


338  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

Rapidau,  and  which  has  been  a  serious  check  to 
the  esprit  de  corps  of  the  army,  begins  to  clear 
away.  The  troops  had  not  ceased  cheering  over 
Hancock's  successes  on  the  left,  in  capturing 
Johnson's  entire  Division,  when  Grant's  dis 
patch  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  in  which  he  pro 
poses  to  "  fight  it  out  on  this  line  if  it  takes  all 
summer,"  aroused  them  to  the  highest  pitch  of 
enthusiasm.  Now  we  have  the  congratulatory 
order  of  General  Meade,  stating  in  brief  what 
has  already  been  done,  and  what  there  remains 
yet  to  do.  On  the  heels  of  this  comes  a  rumor 
that  Sheridan's  cavalry  is  operating  in  rear  of 
the  rebel  lines,  tearing  up  the  railroads  and 
burning  depots  of  supplies.  But  these  successes 
do  not  make  us  insensible  of  our  own  great 
losses.  The  Fifth  Corps,  as  it  is  now  seen, 
looks  scarcely  larger  than  did  Robinson's  Divi 
sion  ten  days  ago. 

Since  crossing  the  Rapidan  we  have  lost  Gen 
erals  Hays,  AVadsworth,  Sedgwick,  Stevenson, 
and  Rice.  A  Pennsylvanian  and  a  resident  of 
Pittsburg,  General  Alex.  Hays  was  a  personal 
friend  of  the  officers  of  the  Eleventh,  admired 
by  all  as  a  brave  and  accomplished  soldier.  At 
Mine  Run,  as  the  troops  were  in  line  of  battle, 
awaiting  the  word  to  charge  the  enemy's  works, 
the  general  remarked:  "I  don't  like  the  look 
of  things  around  here.  This  is  the  only  place 
in  Virginia  where  I  have  not  wanted  to  fight." 


MOVING    TO    THE    LEFT.  339 

It  is  not  a  little  singular  that  he  should  have 
met  his  death  so  near  that  same  locality.  The 
rebels  have  lost  Generals  Jenkins,  Jones,  Gor 
don,  and  Perrin.  Long-street  was  severely 
wounded  on  the  evening  of  the  6th;  and  it  is 
rumored  that  J.  E.  B.  Stuart  was  killed  in  a 
fight  with  Sheridan.  There  is  a  spirit  of  hope 
fulness  throughout  our  ranks  that  will  carry  the 
men  along  with  their  indomitable  leader. 

XEAR  SPOTTSYLVANIA,  May  16. — Leaving  the 
Twelfth  Massachusetts  and  Eleventh  Pennsyl 
vania  on  the  picket  line  in  front  of  Laurel  Hill, 
the  rest  of  the  brigade,  following  in  the  wake  of 
the  division,  on  the  evening  of  the  14th  moved 
toward  the  left.  It  was  a  dark,  rainy  night,  and 
the  muddy  roads  and  swollen  streams  made  the 
march  full  of  weariness  to  men  already  worn 
down  with  incessant  labors.  Yesterday  after 
noon,  the  two  regiments  left  on  picket  having 
rejoined  the  brigade,  we  were  placed  in  position 
near  the  Anderson  House,  holding  now  the  ex 
treme  left  of  the  army,  as  we  formerly  held  the 
extreme  right.  It  is  a  relief  to  know  that  we 
are  quite  out  of  the  Wilderness;  but  the  ground 
in  front  is  rough  and  uneven,  covered  with  a 
heavy  growth  of  timber.  On  every  command 
ing  position  is  a  rebel  fortification,  from  which 
defiantly  floats  the  Confederate  flag. 

THURSDAY,  May  19. — During  the   last   three 
days  the  lines  of  the  army  have  been  several 


340  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

times  changed  to  meet  the  impetuous  assaults 
of  the  rebels,  who  seem  stung  to  the  quick  by 
operations  in  their  front  and  rear.  Tuesday  af 
ternoon  the  brigade  crossed  the  River  Xy,  and 
moved  up  nearer  Spottsylvania,  taking  position 
to  the  left  of  the  First  Division,  and  in  support 
of  Cooper's  Pennsylvania  Battery.  All  night 
long  the  men  worked  with  pick  and  shovel — 
tools  with  whose  use  they  have  grown  familiar 
— intrenching  themselves  on  their  new  ground. 
It  was  a  wise  precaution ;  for  with  the  morning 
of  the  18th  the  rebels  opened  a  heavy  cannon 
ade.  But  the  shells  buried  themselves  in  the 
newly  constructed  sand-banks,  or  harmlessly 
ricochetted  from  the  fallen  timber  in  our  front, 
while  a  squad  of  riflemen,  hiding  behind  the 
logs,  and  picking  off  with  unerring  certainty 
every  gunner  that  showed  himself  above  the 
parapet,  kept  in  silence  one  of  their  most  effec 
tive  batteries. 

Toward  10  o'clock  P.M.,  making  a  sally  on  the 
pickets  in  front  of  our  brigade,  the  rebels  pushed 
back  the  line  for  more  than  a  hundred  yards. 
While  bringing  up  supports,  and  in  the  act  of 
advancing  the  troops  to  re-establish  the  picket 
lines,  Colonel  Coulter  was  shot  through  the 
body  and  taken  to  the  rear.  Apparently  satis 
fied  with  testing  the  strength  of  the  force  in  his 
front,  the  enemy  retired,  and  everything  re 
mained  quiet  until  a  few  hours  ago.  A  part  of 


GRANT    MARCHING    SOUTHWARD.  341 

E well's  Corps,  crossing  the  Ny  at  a  point  above 
our  extreme  right,  moved  down  to  the  Freder- 
icksburg  road,  thus  seizing  the  main  line  of  our 
communications.  The  Eleventh  was  hurried 
along  for  two  miles  toward  Fredericksburg,  at  a 
double-quick.  But  the  work  of  driving  back 
Ewell  was  accomplished  by  Tyler's  foot  artiller 
ists;  and  leaving  it  to  others  to  keep  up  the  pur 
suit,  we  returned  to  our  intrenchments  on  the 
left.  The  brigade  is  under  command  of  Colonel 
Bates,  of  the  Twelfth  Massachusetts. 

ACROSS  THE  PAMUNKEY,  May  28. — The  events 
of  the  last  nine  days,  though  so  full  of  signifi 
cance,  have  been  crowded  upon  each  other  in 
rapid  succession.  Noiselessly  as  the  Second 
Corps,  preceded  by  a  large  force  of  cavalry, 
marched  some  distance  to  the  rear  of  our  posi 
tion  in  front  of  Spottsylvania,  at  midnight  of 
the  20th,  it  did  not  escape  the  notice  of  the 
men.  It  was  the  beginning  of  another  move  by 
the  left  flank.  Xext  morning  the  Fifth  Corps 
was  following  the  Second,  in  easy  supporting 
distance,  over  the  road  leading  to  Guinney's 
Station,  where  we  bivouacked  on  the  night  of 
May  21st,  driving  away  a  small  body  of  rebel 
cavalry.  On  the  morning  of  the  22d,  Colonel 
Bates's  Brigade  was  ordered  to  make  a  recon- 
noissance  toward  the  Telegraph  road,  three  miles 
from  the  station.  It  was  a  slow  and  cautious 
march,  our  flanks  well  protected  by  trusty  skirm- 
29* 


342  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

ishers.  Not  an  enemy  was  to  be  seen ;  he  too 
was  moving  southward.  Some  hours  later, 
striking  the  Telegraph  road,  the  Fifth  Corps 
marched  to  Bowling  Green,  the  county  seat  of 
Caroline  County.  The  dreary  "Wilderness,  and 
the  scarcely  less  dreary  region  of  Spottsylvania, 
where  for  two  weeks,  day  and  night,  we  had 
been  fighting  or  intrenching,  were  left  behind 
us,  and  the  beautiful  county  of  Caroline,  without 
a  mark  of  war's  ravages  upon  its  fair  face,  was  a 
feast  to  the  eye  and  a  joy  to  the  soul.  Quitting 
our  bivouac  near  Bowling  Green  early  Monday 
morning,  and  passing  in  the  march  the  Second 
Corps  halted  at  Milford,  the  Fifth  Corps  reached 
Jericho  Ford,  on  the  North  Anna  River,  near 
the  hour  of  noon.  The  enemy  was  not  expect 
ing  us  so  high  up  the  river;  but  Hancock's  guns, 
afterward  heard  further  to  the  left,  gave  warning 
by  their  thunders  that  the  rebels  had  neither 
been  deceived  by  our  movements  nor  surprised 
at  our  advance.  Unconquerable  as  ever,  their 
gray-clad  legions  formed  in  battle-line  across  our 
path  to  Richmond. 

The  Fifth  Corps  crossed  the  North  Anna  at 
Jericho  Ford  without  opposition,  and  marching 
a  short  distance  down  the  south  bank  to  a  copse 
of  woods,  formed  its  battle-line  with  Cutler  on 
the  right,  Griffin  in  the  center,  and  Crawford  on 
the  left.  Time  was  when  the  first  thing  to  be 
done  after  a  halt  was  to  make  coffee,  in  whose 


FIFTH    CORPS    ON   THE    NORTH    ANNA.  343 

grateful  fumes  all  weariness  was  forgotten.  Now 
the  first  thing  the  men  do  is  to  intrench.  We 
had  but  commenced  this  necessary  work  when 
the  center  division  was  furiously  assaulted  by  a 
heavy  rebel  column.  The  attack  soon  spread  all 
along  the  line.  But  with  intrenchments  incom 
plete,  the  rebels  were  repulsed  at  every  point, 
leaving  in  our  hands  not  less  than  a  thousand 
prisoners. 

Tuesday  morning  an  interval  of  three  miles 
was  discovered  between  Hancock  on  the  left,  who 
had  bravely  fought  his  way  across  the  river  at 
Chesterfield  bridge,  and  the  Fifth  and  Sixth 
Corps  on  the  right.  The  First  Regiment  of 
Pennsylvania  Reserves  was  sent  down  the  stream 
with  orders  to  form  a  connection  with  the  right 
of  Hancock's  line.  Moving  stealthily  along  the 
rocky  bed  of  the  river,  concealed  from  view  by 
its  high  bank,  the  regiment  reached  Quarrel's 
Ford,  to  find  all  further  progress  impossible,  and 
the  enemy  closed  in  upon  its  rear.  General  War 
ren  then  ordered  Crawford  to  advance  his  entire 
division  to  find  the  lost  regiment,  and  to  com 
plete  the  connection  with  Hancock.  With  the 
Second  Brigade  on  the  left,  the  Eleventh  march 
ing  next  to  the  river,  our  line  was  advanced 
against  a  desultory  fire  from  the  rebel  pickets. 
The  Reserves  were  found  in  communication  with 
Burnside's  troops,  just  arrived,  and  posted  on  the 
north  bank.  The  uncovering  of  Quarrel's  Ford, 


344  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

thus  effected,  made  a  passage  for  the  Ninth. 
Corps,  whose  divisions  at  once  passed  over  the 
river,  and  tilling  up  the  gap,  by  nightfall  Craw 
ford  had  returned  to  his  place  on  the  right. 

After  two  days  of  unsuccessful  effort  to  carry 
the  enemy's  position,  Thursday  night,  under 
cover  of  the  thick  clouds  that  were  scudding  the 
sky,  the  Fifth  Corps  recrossed  the  North  Anna, 
Daylight  of  Friday,  following  after  the  Sixth 
Corps,  we  were  marching  down  the  north  bank. 
Traveling  eastwardly  for  two  or  three  hours,  the 
impression  became  general  that  the  army  was 
making  a  retrograde  movement.  Again  we 
changed  course  to  the  westward,  and  at  last  to 
the  southward,  bivouacking  at  night  five  miles 
from  the  Pamunkey.  This  morning  when  we 
came  to  the  river  it  was  spanned  by  pontoon 
bridges;  the  cavalry  and  the  Sixth  Corps  were 
already  on  the  opposite  side,  and  filing  down  the 
slippery  banks,  made  so  by  half  an  hour's  rain, 
and  over  the  trembling  foot-walk,  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  was  again  on  the  Yorktown  Penin 
sula. 

SUNDAY,  May  29. — There  has  been  nothing  of 
the  quiet  or  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath  in  any  of  our 
movements  to-day.  From  early  morning  until 
this  late  evening  hour,  cavalry,  infantry,  and  ar 
tillery  have  been  marching,  now  cautiously  in 
line  of  battle,  and  again  Hying  in  squadrons, 
or  quickly  moving  in  columns  of  division. 


ALONG    THE    CHICKAHOMINY.  345 

Leaving  our  bivouac  at  an  early  hour,  the 
corps  began  its  advance  toward  the  Chickahom- 
iny,  Crawford  on  the  left,  Cutler  in  the  center, 
and  Griffin  on  the  right,  and  thus  forming  the 
left  of  the  array.  The  route  has  been  along  the 
Grove  Church  turnpike,  the  enemy's  skirmish 
line  falling  slowly  back  as  we  continued  forward. 
The  entire  army  is  to-night  in  battle-line  near  the 
Chickahominy  River.  On  the  left  of  the  Elev 
enth  are  the  Pennsylvania  Reserves.  Xear  the 
camp-fire  where  we  write,  a  group  of  officers  and 
men  are  recounting  incidents  that  occurred  two 
years  ago,  as  the  army  of  General  McClellan 
marched  over  this  same  ground  to  the  battle  of 
Mechanicsville.  There  are  frequent  shots  on  the 
outlying  picket  posts,  that  seem  to  speak  of  the 
probabilities  of  to-morrow;  but  there  is  no  flinch 
ing  anywhere  among  the  troops.  "We  have  fought 
our  way  once  more  to  the  gates  of  Richmond, 
and  this  time  with  a  persistency  that  must  sooner 
or  later  carry  us  through  them. 

^"EAR  COLD  HARBOR,  Monday,  June  6. — This 
is  the  eighth  day  of  the  battle  of  Cold  Harbor, 
and  the  end  is  not  yet.  With  the  first  dawn  of 
Monday,  May  30th,  starting  from  beds  on  the 
ground,  and  shaking  the  dew  from  their  blank 
ets,  the  ranks  of  the  Fifth  Corps  were  formed  for 
a  speedy  advance.  Crawford's  Division  moved 
directly  forward  across  the  road  to  Shady  Grove 
Church  for  the  Mechanicsville  pike,  driving  back 


346  STORY    OF   THE    REQIMENT. 

in  its  progress  a  body  of  rebel  cavalry.  But  it 
soon  came  to  be  known  that  there  was  something 
more  than  horsemen  in  our  front — that  the  whole 
of  E well's  Corps  held  a  position  to  cover  all  the 
approaches  to  the  upper  bridges  of  the  Chicka- 
hominy.  Detaching  a  division  from  his  left,  and 
marching  it  in  rear  of  his  line  of  troops,  the  rebel 
general  had  attempted  to  seize  the  Mechanies- 
ville  pike,  and  thus  strike  our  undefended  flank. 
The  movement  was  at  once  detected,  and  a 
brigade  of  the  Reserves  sent  out  to  meet  it. 
Penetrating  as  far  as  Bethesda  Church,  the  Re 
serves  were  met  by  the  head  of  the  rebel  column 
as  it  emerged  from  a  narrow  strip  of  woods,  and 
the  fierce  encounter  in  which  we  are  still  engaged 
was  there  begun.  Soon  the  whole  division  moved 
to  the  left,  and  around  that  quiet  church,  hitherto 
resting  in  undisturbed  repose  in  a  grove  of  beau 
tiful  oak  trees,  for  many  hours  there  was  an  an 
gry  clashing  of  arms,  and  a  thundering  of  artil 
lery.  The  rebels  came  to  the  attack  in  double 
lines,  exposing  themselves  with  reckless  daring 
to  the  unerring  tire  of  our  batteries,  whose  shot 
and  shell  made  great  and  frequent  gaps  in  their 
ranks.  Six  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  conflict 
extended  along  the  whole  front  of  the  Fifth 
Corps,  the  enemy  concentrating  all  his  efforts  to 
carry  that  portion  of  the  line.  But  the  troops  of 
those  war-tried  brigades  were  immovable,  and 
despite  the  most  passionate  and  earnest  charges, 


COLD    HARBOR    AND    BETHESDA    CHURCH.       347 

in  which  the  Confederates  revealed  the  spirit  that 
inspires  men  fighting  in  the  last  straits,  those 
lines  maintained  an  unbroken  front,  and  when 
night  closed  down  upon  the  battle-field  the  po 
sition  was  securely  held. 

Tuesday,  the  31st,  was  comparatively  quiet 
until  late  in  the  afternoon,  when  the  battle 
broke  out  afresh  still  further  to  the  left.  It  was 
Sheridan's  cavalry  fighting  for  the  important 
point  of  Cold  Harbor,  that  was  only  wrested 
from  the  enemy  after  a  severe  struggle.  June 
1st  the  Eighteenth  Corps  arrived  from  Butler's 
Department,  and  formed  in  line  to  the  left  of  the 
Fifth  Corps.  During  the  night  of  the  31st  the 
Sixth  Corps  had  also  been  moved  to  the  left,  and 
on  the  morning  of  the  2d  of  June  the  Fifth  Corps 
was  the  extreme  right  of  the  line,  which  now 
extended  from  Cold  Harbor  to  Bethesda  Church. 

In  forming  this  new  line  there  had  been  more 
or  less  of  fighting  at  different  points;  but  true  to 
the  promises  of  these  preparatory  moves,  Friday, 
June  3d,  witnessed  the  contest  renewed  with  a 
fierceness  beyond  all  precedent.  Hancock's  first 
gun  on  the  left  was  speedily  answered  from  the 
extreme  right,  and  everywhere  along  the  ex 
tended  line  there  were  the  sounds  of  desperate 
battle.  Late  in  the  afternoon  the  Eleventh  was 
sent  out  on  the  picket  line.  It  was  taken  by  the 
enemy  to  be  an  advance  of  the  division  on  his 
position,  and  subjected  the  regiment  to  a  fire  so 


348  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

direct  and  certain  that  in  hardly  as  many  feet 
across  the  open  ground  four  of  the  men  were 
killed  and  a  number  wounded.  No  impression 
whatever  was  made  upon  the  rebel  position  on 
the  right,  and  scarcely  any  on  the  left,  where  the 
fighting  was  more  severe.  The  night  of  the  3d 
and  most  of  the  4th  of  June  were  occupied  by 
the  troops  in  throwing  up  intrenchments,  as 
though  the  enemy's  works  were  to  be  carried 
by  regular  siege. 

The  showery  afternoon  of  Saturday  was  fol 
lowed  by  a  dark  and  cloudy  evening.  It  was 
one  of  those  nights  when  the  soldier  feels  like 
early  wrapping  himself  up  in  his  blanket  to  rest; 
and  it  was  a  fitting  night  for  the  enemy,  ever 
watchful  and  sagacious,  to  make  a  furious  attack 
upon  our  lines.  Deeper  than  midnight  thunder 
peeled  forth  the  cannon;  while  the  burning 
shells,  coursing  through  the  air,  looked  like 
angry  meteors  escaped  from  their  orbits.  The 
assault  did  not  reach  the  front  of  the  Fifth 
Corps;  but  as  the  men  stood  in  their  places, 
ready  for  the  word  of  command,  they  joined  in 
the  loud  hurrah  that  told  again  and  again  of  the 
repulse  of  the  foe.  The  attack  had  been  de 
ferred  too  long.  If  we  could  not  drive  the 
Southerner  from  his  strong  earthworks,  we  were 
not  to  be  driven  from  our  own.  Behind  its  in 
trenchments  either  army  was  unconquerable. 
Last  night  was  not  unlike  Saturday  night  in  the 


MOVING    BY    THE    LEFT    FLANK.  349 

black  clouds  that  hung  over  the  army.  Under 
cover  of  its  darkness,  again  the  enemy  sallied 
forth,  this  time,  as  before,  on  our  extreme  left. 
In  the  midst  of  the  heavy  cannonading  we  drew 
in  our  picket  lines,  and  leaving  the  position  near 
Bethesda  Church,  the  corps  marched  slowly  to 
ward  the  left. 

The  Eleventh  is  now  on  the  right  of  the  line, 
which  rests  near  Gaines's  Mills,  while  the  left 
extends  to  Cold  Harbor.  The  troops  of  the  Sec 
ond  and  Eighteenth  Corps  are  between  us  and 
the  enemy.  Whether  the  corps  are  thus  massing 
for  a  linal  assault  upon  the  rebel  lines,  or  a  new 
flank  movement  is  to  be  inaugurated,  will  soon 
be  known. 

SOUTH  OF  THE  JAMES,  Thursday,  June  16. — It 
has  a  strange  sound  to  say  south  of  the  James. 
From  the  point  where  we  entered  the  Peninsula 
to  that  of  our  exit  is  fifty  miles.  We  could  have 
made  the  distance  in  two  days'  march,  if  nothing 
had  opposed  our  progress,  whereas  it  has  con 
sumed  nearly  three  weeks.  In  less  than  two 
years  history  has  so  far  repeated  itself  as  to  re- 
enact  nearly  all  the  prominent  scenes  of  the  first 
Peninsular  campaign.  Chickahominy  Swamps, 
Gaines's  Mills,  Cold  Harbor,  Harrison's  Landing 
— names  familiar,  and  of  enduring  associations, 
for  the  moment  pushing  aside  Antietam,  Fred- 
ericksburg,  Chancellorville,  Gettysburg — claim 
again  their  first  absorbing  interest. 


850  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

Five  days  were  spent  in  comparative  quiet 
near  Cold  Harbor,  the  men  working  in  details  at 
digging  rifle-pits  and  throwing  up  intrench- 
ments.  Saturday  morning,  June  llth,  the  march 
of  the  Fifth  Corps  began,  Crawford's  Division 
leading  the  corps,  and  itself  led  by  Wilson's  Divi 
sion  of  cavalry.  The  route  was  down  the  Pen 
insula,  and  the  purpose  to  effect  a  crossing  of  the 
Chickahominy  at  Long  Bridge.  The  Confederate 
general  was  also  extending  his  line  eastward,  and 
on  the  morning  of  the  loth,  when  the  brigade 
reached  the  bridge,  a  force  of  the  rebels  already 
held  possession.  It  was  only  a  small  force,  how 
ever,  that  quickly  retired  at  our  approach.  Cross 
ing  the  Chickahominy  and  filing  out  into  the 
!N"ew  Market  road,  the  division  changed  the  di 
rection  of  its  march  and  moved  toward  Rich 
mond.  In  less  than  an  hour,  and  within  a  mile 
or  two  of  White  Oak  Swamp,  our  line  of  battle 
was  confronted  by  a  line  of  the  enemy.  There 
was  a  mutual  halt,  each  army  again  throwing  up 
intrenchments  and  preparing  for  an  attack. 

While  the  Fifth  Corps  thus  lay  stretched  across 
the  only  road  by  which  General  Lee  could  assail 
our  flank,  the  other  corps  were  crossing  the 
Chickahominy  at  points  lower  down,  and  with 
out  opposition  moving  toward  the  James.  When 
night  came  on  our  picket  line  was  quietly  aban 
doned,  and  falling  into  ranks,  the  Fifth  Corps 
was  bringing  up  the  rear  of  the  army.  The 


HARRISON'S  LANDING.  351 

march  was  continued  all  night  and  until  eleven 
o'clock  of  Tuesday,  when  we  halted  near  Charles 
City  Court  House. 

This  morning,  all  the  wagon  trains  having 
passed  on  to  the  James  River,  we  left  our  bi 
vouac  and  marched  to  Harrison's  Landing.  The 
steamer  John  Brooks  ferried  the  Eleventh  across 
the  magnificent  river  to  Windmill  Point.  The 
men  are  now  disembarking,  and  stacking  arms 
on  the  nearest  ground.  The  Army  of  the  Poto 
mac  is  at  its  watering-place,  and  ten  thousand 
bathers  crowd  the  beach. 


CHAPTER  III. 

SOUTH    OF    THE    JAMES    RIVER, 

THE  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  not  yet  reached 
its  resting-place.  The  campaign  north  of  the 
James,  though  bitter  and  bloody  beyond  any 
thing  that  had  ever  preceded  it,  without  any 
abatement  of  these  terrible  qualities,  was  to  be 
continued  over  the  territory  south  of  it.  A  halt 
of  an  hour  or  two,  and  the  bugle-note,  familiar 
as  ever,  though  echoed  from  strange  and  un 
known  surroundings,  called  the  men  into  lines, 


352     .  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

and  the  march  was  continued  toward  Peters 
burg,  now  the  objective  point  of  the  campaign. 

Contending  with  an  opponent  ever  on  the  de 
fensive,  and  fighting  always  on  his  own  ground, 
Grant  had  so  far  failed  of  his  original  intention  to 
invest  Richmond  from  the  west,  and  connect  his 
lines  with  those  of  Butler  at  Bermuda  Hundred, 
that  he  now  resolved  to  siege  Petersburg,  and 
thus  cut  off  the  rebel  army,  pent  up  in  its  capi 
tal,  from  all  sources  of  supply  except  the  solitary 
line  of  the  James  River  Canal. 

The  Eighteenth  Corps,  that  came  in  transports 
from  White  House  Landing,  on  the  York  River, 
to  City  Point,  on  the  James,  and  the  Second 
Corps,  the  first  to  cross  from  the  Peninsula,  were 
already  in  front  of  Petersburg.  The  Ninth  Corps 
was  en  route  for  the  same  destination,  two  or 
three  hours  in  advance,  when  the  Fifth  Corps 
began  its  march  from  the  river  shore.  Diverg 
ing  to  the  left  of  the  direct  route,  and  following 
the  road  to  Prince  George  Court  House,  the  last 
rays  of  the  setting  sun  had  melted  into  twilight 
as  we  took  our  position  on  the  left  of  the  line 
now  formed  in  front  of  Petersburg,  the  right  of 
the  Eleventh  connecting  with  the  Ninth  Corps. 

The  golden  moment  to  carry  Petersburg  by  an 
unexpected  attack  passed  away  with  the  night  of 
the  15th.  It  was  then  held  by  only  a  small  force 
of  home-guards.  But  clearly  divining  Grant's 
designs,  Lee  had  crossed  the  James  at  Drury's 


IN    FRONT    OF    PETERSBURG.  353 

Bluff,  and  every  subsequent  hour  witnessed  a 
fresh  arrival  of  his  veteran  divisions.  The  17th 
was  spent  in  adjusting  our  lines  and  preparing 
for  a  general  assault  on  the  following  morning. 
Toward  nightfall  Crawford's  Division  advanced 
with  the  Ninth  Corps,  and  gaining  some  ground 
in  front,  captured  a  number  of  prisoners  and  the 
battle-flag  of  an  Alabama  regiment. 

The  morning  of  June  18th  opened  clear  and 
bright,  revealing  in  its  first  light  the  spires  of 
Petersburg,  and  wafting  on  its  fresh,  balmy  air 
the  sound  of  bells,  ringing  out  their  alarm  in  the 
ears  of  the  anxious  inhabitants  of  the  beleaguered 
city.  It  was  five  o'clock,  and  orders  having 
passed  along  the  lines,  from  the  right  of  the 
Eighteenth  Corps,  on  the  Appomattox,  to  the 
Fifth  Corps,  opposite  Cemetery  Hill,  on  the  left, 
the  skirmishers  advanced  to  the  grand  assault. 
But  the  intrenchments,  filled  with  armed  men 
only  the  night  before,  and  in  whose  front  many 
a  soldier  expected  to  die,  were  now  empty.  The 
enemy  had  taken  up  a  new  line  nearer  to  the 
city,  and  more  securely  defended  than  the  outer 
line. 

Instead  of  a  general  assault,  as  at  first  intended, 
a  new  order  of  battle  was  devised.  The  attack 
was  to  be  made  in  columns  at  different  points 
along  the  enemy's  works.  Speedily  as  possible 
the  troops  were  distributed,  and  beginning  on 
the  right,  the  fearful  work  soon  extended  to  all 
30* 


354  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

the  corps.  The  Fifth  and  the  Xinth,  moving 
out  from  their  intrenchments,  and  passing  over 
ground  whose  surface  was  crossed  by  deep  and 
numerous  ravines,  made  their  daring  but  unsuc 
cessful  assault  against  that  part  of  the  Confed 
erate  line  afterward  the  scene  of  the  mine  explo 
sion.  The  repulse  of  the  Federal  army  was 
general.  Enfilading  fires  of  infantry  and  artil 
lery  swept  through  our  columns,  leveling  the 
ranks  and  with  frightful  suddenness  depleting 
our  numbers. 

The  same  persistency  of  purpose,  seen  in  all 
the  movements  of  the  Federal  army  north  of 
the  James,  was  still  apparent.  Moving  up  to  and 
beyond  the  abandoned  works  of  the  enemy,  the 
morning  of  the  19th  found  the  Union  troops  be 
hind  intrenchments  as  unyielding  as  those  of  the 
foe.  The  lines  of  the  opposing  armies,  in  many 
places,  were  scarcely  a  hundred  yards  apart,  and 
for  several  succeeding  days  the  conflict  on  either 
side  was  committed  to  the  sharpshooters,  who 
picked  off'  every  man  that  showed  himself  above 
the  parapets.  Men  and  officers  lived  in  bomb 
proof  quarters,  and  moved  to  the  rear,  or  from 
right  to  left,  through  covered  ways. 

As  the  line  of  earthworks  became  more  sys 
tematic  and  complete,  daily  attempts  were  made 
to  extend  our  left  flank,  and  more  certainly  en 
velop  the  communications  of  Lee.  But  every 
day  only  brought  out  more  clearly  the  conviction 


EXPLOSION  OF  FORT  PEGRAM.       355 

that  the  enemy  had  lost  nothing  of  his  watchful 
ness,  and  that  for  every  advantage  gained  we 
must  pay  the  price  in  men. 

The  mining  of  Fort  Pegram,  opposite  the 
Ninth  Corps,  began  on  the  25th  of  June.  Its 
conception  belonged  to  a  Pennsylvania!! — Colo 
nel  Henry  Pleasants — and  its  entire  construction 
devolved  upon  a  Pennsylvania  regiment.  The 
want  of  entire  success  attending  the  enterprise 
does  not  detract  in  the  least  from  its  merits  as 
a  wonder  of  perseverance  and  industry.  The 
length  of  the  main  gallery  was  five  hundred  and 
twenty-two  feet,  and  that  of  the  laterals  forty 
feet.  For  want  of  wheel-barrows,  the  excavated 
earth  was  carried  out  in  cracker  boxes,  and  in 
geniously  concealed  from  the  prying  look  of  the 
enemy. 

Through  many  discouragements,  the  mine  was 
at  last  finished,  and  the  30th  of  July  fixed  for  its 
explosion.  It  was  to  be  the  signal  of  another 
grand  assault.  Every  gun  along  the  whole  Fed 
eral  line  was  to  open  upon  the  enemy,  while  the 
Eighteenth  Corps,  on  the  right  of  the  Ninth,  and 
the  Fifth  Corps  on  the  left,  were  to  be  drawn  up 
in  line  of  battle,  ready  to  rally  to  the  support  of 
Burnside  as  soon  as  his  divisions  succeeded  in 
carrying  the  crest  of  Cemetery  Hill. 

The  orders  were  received  the  night  before,  and 
at  the  hour  appointed — half-past  three— the  can 
nons  were  charged,  and  the  troops  formed  in  line. 


356  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

A  defect  in  the  fuse  delayed  the  explosion  for 
more  than  an  hour.  It  seemed  almost  an  age 
to  men  eager  to  behold  the  result,  and  who 
stood  with  one  foot  advanced,  ready  to  leap  over 
the  parapets  at  the  first  appearance  of  success. 

At  last  it  came — a  low,  rumbling  sound,  which 
made  the  ground  to  shake  with  a  sudden  tremor, 
and  then  a  heavy  report,  that  seemed  like  distant 
thunder.  Quickly  following  was  the  more  dread 
ful  roar  of  hundreds  of  cannon,  lighting  up  a 
line  of  miles  in  extent  with  a  sheet  of  flame. 
Along  the  entire  front  the  supports  moved  for 
ward,  while  forth  from  their  intrenchments 
poured  the  storming  party  of  the  Xinth  Corps. 

By  the  explosion  of  the  mine  a  strong  fort  was 
converted  into  a  deep  and  extended  fissure,  in 
which  three  batteries  of  the  enemy  and  not  less 
than  two  hundred  of  his  men  found  a  sepulture. 
Paralyzed  by  the  disaster,  and  fearful  of  other 
explosions,  for  a  time  the  enemy  was  powerless, 
and  a  gap  was  made  in  his  lines  through  which  we 
might  have  secured  the  coveted  city.  But  it  was 
only  for  a  moment.  The  divisions  of  the  Xinth 
Corps,  pausing  at  the  crater  instead  of  pushing 
on  to  Cemetery  Hill,  gave  the  enemy  time  to  re 
cover  from  his  surprise  From  right  to  left  he 
gathered  up  his  forces,  and  turning  his  guns  upon 
the  gap  through  which  the  confused  masses  of 
Union  troops  were  vainly  endeavoring  to  force 
their  way,  the  crater  became  the  burial  place  of 


FIGHT    FOR    THE    WELDON    RAILROAD.          357 

more  than  two  hundred  rebels.  Before  the  at 
tacking  column  returned  to  the  intrenchments 
four  thousand  men  of  the  Federal  army  were 
killed  and  wounded. 

The  reverses  in  our  immediate  front  did  not 
prevent  a  gradual  extension  of  our  lines  south 
ward.  For  several  days  the  Fifth  Corps  had  been 
constantly  veering  toward  the  left,  until  toward 
the  middle  of  August,  the  camp  of  the  Eleventh 
was  within  three  miles  of  the  Weldon  Railroad, 
one  of  the  chief  sources  of  supply  of  the  Con 
federate  army.  The  whistle  of  the  locomotive 
arid  the  rattling  of  the  trains  could  be  distinctly 
heard  in  their  passage  to  and  from  Petersburg, 
now  laden  with  commissary  stores,  and  again 
with  troops.  A  happy  combination  of  move 
ments  calling  the  attention  of  Lee  north  of  the 
James  River,  promised  success  to  an  effort  to  se 
cure  this  road,  and  thus  lessen  the  resources  of 
the  Southern  commander. 

The  enterprise  was  committed  to  the  Fifth 
Corps,  throughout  whose  camps  cartridge-boxes 
were  replenished,  and  rations  for  four  days  issued 
to  the  men.  The  march  began  on  Thursday 
morning,  August  18th,  Griffin's  Division  in  the 
advance,  and  Crawford's  following  in  his  rear. 
Two  hours  of  slow  and  steady  marching  brought 
us  to  the  railroad,  when,  changing  direction,  and 
moving  toward  Petersburg,  the  work  of  tearing 
up  the  track  was  prosecuted  with  vigor. 


358  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

The  thin  line  of  the  enemy,  met  early  in  the 
morninsr,  had  fallen  back  before  our  advance. 

O  ' 

But  the  great  clouds  of  dust,  rising  between  us 
and  the  city,  told  of  the  approach  of  such  a  body 
of  troops  as  would  contest  any  further  progress. 
It  proved  to  be  Hill's  Corps  moving  down  the 
railroad  in  line  of  battle,  and  presenting  indeed 
a  formidable  barrier  across  our  path.  Securing 
the  position  we  had  already  gained,  at  six  o'clock 
p.  M.  the  divisions  of  Crawford  and  Ayres  were 
ordered  forward.  The  enemy  at  once  developed 
a  strong  line  in  front  of  Crawford,  but  it  was  a 
mere  feint,  for,  massing  to  the  left  of  Ayres,  Hill 
fell  upon  that  extreme  flank  with  one  of  his 
strongest  divisions,  capturing  many  prisoners, 
and  driving  back  the  entire  line. 

It  was  now  night,  and  the  falling  rain  made  it 
pitchy  dark.  There  were  few  alarms  until  after 
daylight  of  the  19th,  with  whose  first  dawning 
the  men  of  Crawford's  Division  began  the  erec 
tion  of  earthworks,  to  protect  their  flank  and 
front.  All  forenoon  reinforcements  were  reach 
ing  the  enemy,  and  everywhere  along  the  line  he 
was  testing  the  strength  of  our  position.  We 
might  have  concluded  that  a  thorough  examina 
tion  only  revealed  the  folly  of  assaulting  a 
strongly  intrenched  line.  But  General  Lee  is 
reported  as  saying  that  the  AVeldon  Railroad 
must  be  regained  that  day  if  it  cost  him  one-half 
his  army,  and  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 


CRAWFORD'S    RIGHT    GIVES    WAY.  359 

those  rebel  troops  came  rushing  down  upon  us 
with  yells  and  hurrahs,  only  a  proper  accom 
paniment  for  the  volleys  of  their  rifles. 

There  was  a  gap  between  the  left  of  the  main 
line  of  the  army,  resting  on  the  Jerusalem  plank- 
road,  and  the  right  of  Crawford's  Division,  held 
by  the  Third  Brigade,  discovered  by  the  enemy, 
through  which  he  was  pouring  his  regiments, 
until  completely  carrying  away  our  right  flank, 
he  had  swept  quite  into  our  rear,  taking  in  his 
track  nearly  all  of  four  regiments,  the  Ninetieth 
and  One-hundred-and-seventh  Pennsylvania,  and 
the  Ninety-fourth  and  One-hundred-and-fourth 
New  York.  It  was  a  moment  when  confusion 
worse  confounded  had  come  again,  threatening 
not  only  the  loss  of  our  hold  on  the  railroad,  but 
of  most  of  the  corps. 

Fortunately  Colonel  Wheelock,  for  the  time  in 
command  of  Baxter's  Brigade,  with  characteris 
tic  gallantry,  ordered  his  command  to  change 
front,  and  charging  upon  the  rebels  at  the  same 
time  that  each  regiment  delivered  a  terrible  vol 
ley  of  musketry  at  short  range,  retrieved  the  for 
tunes  of  the  day.  The  enemy  broke  and  fled 
with  an  astonishment  equal  to  that  caused  by  his 
own  daring  flank  movement,  leaving  in  our  hands 
numerous  prisoners,  besides  hundreds  of  our  own 
men  captured  a  moment  before,  and  on  their  way 
to  the  rebel  rear. 

The  standard  of  the  Ninety-fourth  New  York, 


360  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

wrested  from  the  color-bearer  as  he  lay  on  the 
ground  wounded,  was  retaken  by  Captain  James 
Noble,  of  the  Eleventh,  and  restored  to  the  reg 
iment.  Private  George  W.  Reed,  of  Co.  E,  in  a 
hand  to  hand  conflict,  captured  the  flag  of  the 
Twenty-fourth  North  Carolina  Regiment,  and 
was  awarded  a  medal  of  honor  by  the  Secretary 
of  War. 

Our  front  line  had  now  given  way,  and  though 
the  Confederate  loss  in  men  was  as  great  as  our 
own,  the  grasp  by  which  we  held  the  railroad, 
the  prize  for  which  we  had  been  contending,  was 
considerably  weakened.  At  that  opportune  mo 
ment  reinforcements  from  the  Ninth  Corps  came 
up.  Our  ranks  were  at  once  reformed,  and  by  a 
charge  full  of  the  old  enthusiasm,  the  lost  ground 
was  regained.  The  enemy  fell  back  to  the  in- 
trenchments  from  which  he  had  so  defiantly 
marched  three  hours  before,  disappointed  and 
defeated. 

The  morning  of  the  20th  of  August  found  a 
strong  line  of  earthworks  along  the  entire  front 
held  by  the  Fifth  Corps,  and  the  gap  through 
which  the  enemy  executed  his  flank  movement, 
filled  by  a  division  of  the  Ninth  Corps.  Heavy 
clouds  poured  forth  a  constant  rain  during  most 
of  the  day,  and  though  there  was  sharp  firing 
among  the  skirmishers,  the  rebels  seemed  indis 
posed  to  repeat  the  assault  of  Friday.  Sunday 
morning  came,  wearing  a  smile  of  loveliness  on 


WELDON    RAILROAD    SECURE.  361 

the  clear  sky  and  in  the  balmy  air.  The  first 
look  at  the  Southern  lines  revealed  an  intention 
to  renew  the  attack.  The  Weldon  Railroad  was 
of  too  much  importance  to  be  yielded  up  without 
a  further  effort. 

Half-past  eight  o'clock,  treating  9  us  first  to  a 
storm  of  shell  from  well-posted  artillery,  Lee  ad 
vanced  his  columns  for  a  final  assault.  There 
was  no  faltering  anywhere  along  that  rebel  line. 
But  it  was  too  late.  Waiting  behind  earthworks 
that  could  not  be  stormed,  our  men  reserved 
their  fire  until  the  furious  foe  came  within  the 
measure  of  certain  death.  Then  cannon  and 
musketry  shot  forth  their  contents,  sweeping 
down  whole  ranks  at  each  separate  discharge. 

It  was  too  late.  The  Federals  held  secure 
possession  of  the  Weldon  Railroad.  The  rations 
in  Lee's  army  were  at  once  reduced  from  half  a 
pound  of  bacon  and  a  pound  and  a  quarter  of 
meal  per  man,  daily,  to  one-fourth  pound  of 
bacon  and  three-fourths  pound  of  meal. 


31 


362  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ADVANCES    AND    RETROGRADES. 

THE  days  that  followed  the  occupation  of  the 
"Weldon  Railroad  were  as  prolific  as  ever  in  ac 
tive  movements  against  the  rebels.  Xow  north 
of  the  James,  and  again  south  of  it;  now  in  But 
ler's  Department,  and  again  on  the  left  as  far 
as  Reams's  Station  and  Rowanty  Creek,  there 
were  advances  and  retrogrades,  skirmishes  and 
battles. 

The  month  of  September  and  the  greater  part 
of  October  wore  away  in  these  various  enter 
prises,  and  in  extending  the  strong  line  of  re 
doubts  to  Fort  Dushane,  the  extreme  southern 
flank  held  by  Baxter's  Brigade.  Presuming  still 
more  upon  the  beautiful  weather  of  that  fine  au 
tumnal  month,  on  the  27th  of  October  a  new 
movement  was  undertaken,  having  for  its  object 
the  extension  of  our  lines  to  Hatcher's  Run.  It 
was  a  blow  threatening  the  Southside  Railroad, 
and  aroused  all  the  vigilance  of  the  Southern 

O 

commander.  The  expedition  was  unsuccessful, 
and  by  the  1st  of  Xovember,  after  an  absence  of 
six  days,  the  corps  were  back  again  in  the  old 
camps. 


CHANGES    IN    THE    ELEVENTH.  363 

The  campaign  that  opened  with  the  crossing 
of  the  Rapidan  in  May,  ended  with  the  expedi 
tion  to  Hatcher's  Run.  It  had  continued  through 
six  months,  with  an  aggregate  loss,  on  battle 
fields,  in  skirmishes,  on  picket,  and  in  the 
trenches  before  Petersburg,  of  a  hundred  thou 
sand  men.  The  organization,  not  only  of  single 
regiments,  but  of  the  entire  army,  was  almost 
radically  changed.  Xew  recruits  that  were  com 
ing  rapidly  to  the  front  prevented  the  ranks  of 
the  Eleventh  from  falling  at  any  time  below  two 
hundred;  but  they  were  strange  faces.  Five 
hundred  men  had  been  lost  to  the  regiment 
during  the  campaign ;  many  of  them  among  the 
killed;  more  of  them  disabled  by  wounds,  and 
still  others  of  them  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy, 
enduring  the  horrors  of  Andersonville  and  Salis 
bury. 

On  the  5th  of  September  Colonel  Coulter  re 
commended  the  appointment  of  Captain  B.  F. 
Haines  to  be  major,  vice  Major  Keenan,  killed 
at  Laurel  Hill;  Sergeant  Harrison  Truesdale  to 
be  first  lieutenant  of  Co.  B,  vice  Lieutenant 
John  P.  Straw,  killed  at  Cold  Harbor;  Corporal 
Robert  R.  Bitner  to  be  second  lieutenant  of 
Co.  B,  vice  Lieutenant  Samuel  "W.  Phillips,  dis 
charged  on  account  of  disability;  Sergeant  Major 
John  A.  Stevenson  to  be  first  lieutenant  of  Co. 
C,  vice  Lieutenant  John  McClintock,  discharged 
on  account  of  wounds;  Sergeant  William  H. 


364  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

McLaughlin  to  be  second  lieutenant  of  Co.  C, 
vice  Lieutenant  A.  Schall,  promoted;  Second 
Lieutenant  James  Moore  to  be  first  lieutenant 
of  Co  D,  vice  Lieutenant  Enos  S.  Hall,  died  of 
wounds;  Sergeant  James  R.  Brown  to  be  second 
lieutenant  of  Co.  D,  vice  Lieutenant  James 
Moore,  promoted.  On  the  13th  of  October  Sec 
ond  Lieutenant  James  J.  Briggs  was  recom 
mended  to  be  first  lieutenant  of  Co.  E,  vice 
Lieutenant  Samuel  J.  Hammil,  discharged  on 
account  of  wounds;  Sergeant  Daniel  Bonbright 
to  be  second  lieutenant  of  Co.  E,  vice  Lieuten 
ant  Briggs,  promoted.  Immediate  attention  to 
these  appointments  was  urged,  because  four 
companies  were  without  commissioned  officers 
in  the  field,  and  the  other  companies  had  but  one 
officer  each  present  for  duty. 

On  the  1st  of  November  Sergeant  John  Kyle 
was  recommended  to  be  first  lieutenant  of  Co. 
I,  vice  Lieutenant  W.  A.  Shrum,  discharged  on 
account  of  wounds;  Sergeant  Lewis  Mechling 
to  be  second  lieutenant  of  Co.  I,  vice  Lieuten 
ant  Shrum,  promoted.  Again,  later  in  the  month, 
the  heavy  loss  in  officers  continuing  to  be  felt, 
Lieutenant  John  A.  Stevenson  was  recommended 
to  be  adjutant,  vice  Arthur F.  Small,  discharged; 
Sergeant  David  Weaverling  to  be  second  lieu 
tenant  of  Co.  A,  vice  Lieutenant  Allen  S.  Ja 
cobs,  promoted;  Lieutenant  William  II.  Mc 
Laughlin  to  be  first  lieutenant  of  Co.  C,  vice 


THE    HICKSFORD    RAID.  365 

Lieutenant  Stevenson,  appointed  adjutant;  Ser 
geant  Henry  I).  Weller  to  be  second  lieutenant 
of  Co.  C,  vice  Lieutenant  McLaughlin,  pro 
moted;  Lieutenant  Robert  Anderson  to  be  reg 
imental  quartermaster,  vice  Lieutenant  Allen  S. 
Jacobs,  deceased;  Lieutenant  Samuel  McCut- 
cheon  to  be  first  lieutenant  of  Co.  F,  vice  Lieu 
tenant  Anderson,  appointed  quartermaster  ;  Ser 
geant  James  T.  Cook  to  be  second  lieutenant 
of  Co.  F,  vice  Lieutenant  McCutcheon,  pro 
moted. 

The  reorganizing  of  the  broken  ranks  of  the 
old  Eleventh  was  not  only  necessary,  but  timely. 
A  new  raid  was  to  be  made  by  the  Fifth  Corps 
on  the  AVeldon  Railroad.  Although  our  lines 
crossed  it  within  six  miles  of  Petersburg,  it 
was  known  that  the  enemy  was  procuring  large 
supplies  for  his  troops  by  way  of  this  road  to 
Stony  Creek,  whence  they  were  conveyed  in 
wagons  to  Petersburg.  The  Fifth  Corps,  with 
the  Third  Division  of  the  Second  Corps,  and 
Gregg's  cavalry,  were  detailed  effectually  to  de 
stroy  the  road  as  far  south  as  the  town  of  Hicks- 
ford,  on-  the  Meherrin  River. 

The  march  commenced  on  Wednesday,  the 
7th  of  December.  It  was  a  dull  winter  morning 
as  the  troops  filed  out  along  the  Jerusalem  plank- 
road.  Various  indeed  were  the  conjectures  as 
to  the  probable  destination  of  the  column,  carry 
ing  on  the  persons  of  its  troops  six  days'  rations. 
31* 


366  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

At  one  time  the  movement  was  pronounced  a 
reconuoissance  toward  the  Southside  road;  at 
another  we  were  certainly  to  effect  a  union  with 
Sherman  in  Georgia. 

The  heavy  clouds  of  the  opening  day  realized 
the  promise  of  a  rain-storm  which  lasted  until 
noon.  Late  in  the  afternoon  the  sun  came  out 
bright  and  warm,  sending  a  spirit  of  cheerfulness 
throughout  all  the  ranks.  Crossing  the  Kotto- 
way  River — a  little  stream  not  unlike  the  Upper 
Rappahannock,  that  flows  on  toward  2s"orth  Car 
olina,  and  helps  to  form  the  Chowan  River — 
nine  o'clock  at  night,  we  bivouacked  at  Sussex 
Court  House.  A  brick  building,  standing  a 
short  distance  from  the  road,  and  of  unpreten 
tious  size,  was  pointed  out  as  the  place  where  in 
other  times  Justice  was  dispensed  according  to 
the  code  of  Virginia.  Six  other  buildings,  every 
one  of  them  a  good  deal  the  worse  for  the  wear, 
completed  the  ancient  and  insignificant  town. 

Thursday  morning,  with  the  first  streak  of 
gray  dawn,  the  march  was  resumed.  The  quick 
ear  of  the  troops,  awake  to  the  perils  of  the  un 
dertaking,  that  increased  with  every  advancing 
mile,  caught  the  first  shot  in  front,  that  told  of 
the  presence  of  the  enemy.  It  was  Gregg  en 
countering  a  party  of  rebel  cavalry  guarding  the 
railroad  bridge  across  the  river.  Driving  away 
the  guard  and  setting  fire  to  the  structure,  the 
work  of  destruction  at  once  commenced.  The 


DESTROYING    THE    RAILROAD.  367 

infantry  struck  the  railroad  four  miles  further 
south,  and  lending  willing  hands  to  the  cavalry, 
by  Friday  night,  from  the  Nottoway  to  the  Me- 
herrin,  a  distance  of  twenty  miles,  the  Weldon 
Railroad  ceased  to  exist. 

Each  division  did  its  appropriate  part;  de 
stroying  all  in  its  immediate  front,  and  then 
moving  alternately  southward.  The  burning 
ties,  aided  by  the  nearest  fence  rails,  cast  a  lurid 
light  on  the  midnight  heavens,  telling  to  the  Con 
federate  commander  the  story  of  ruin  wrought; 
while  the  heated  rails,  torn  from  the  car  track, 
that  many  strong  arms  made  to  take  the  shape 
and  form  of  the  distinguishing  badge  of  the  Fifth 
Corps,  may  remain  to  this  day  to  tell  by  whom 
the  ruin  was  wrought. 

The  country  through  which  we  passed  differed 
but  little  iii  its  general  features  from  that  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  Petersburg.  There  were 
no  iritrenchments  to  be  seen,  nor  anything  to  in 
timate  that  two  hostile  armies  were  only  a  day's 
march  distant.  The  plantations  were  large  and 
frequent,  with  here  and  there  fields  of  cotton, 
still  carrying  their  small,  imperfect  crop. 

The  most  noticeable  feature  to  the  eye  of  the 
soldier  was  the  apparent  plenty  that  dwelt  in  the 
land.  Chickens  and  turkeys,  that  were  thought 
to  be  extinct  in  Virginia,  dwelt  here  prolific,  in 
ease  and  security;  while  the  lowing  of  the  cow 
and  the  tinkling  of  sheep  bells  suggested  that 


368  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

V 

quieter  days  than  those  that  came  to  us  still 
dawned  upon  the  world. 

Breaking  up  our  bivouac  at  Bellfield  Station, 
two  miles  from  the  Meherrin  River,  the  return 
march  began  in  the  early  morning  of  December 
10th.  A  cold,  sleety  rain  had  fallen  during  the 
night,  softening  the  roads,  and  making  the  move 
ment  slow  and  heavy.  Crawford's  Division  was 
the  left  of  the  column,  with  Baxter's  Brigade  and 
a  squad  of  cavalry  as  its  rear-guard. 

Our  destructive  operations  had  not  proceeded 
altogether  unmolested.  At  different  points  the 
enemy  showed  himself,  and  as  his  cavalry  were 
known  to  be  following  a  short  distance  in  our 
rear,  every  precaution  was  taken  to  defend  the 
column  against  attack.  Five  miles  from  the 
place  of  starting,  the  troops  halted  in  a  thick 
woods,  whose  trees  and  overhanging  branches 
were  an  agreeable  shelter  from  the  cold  north 
wind  that  blew  in  keen  and  piercing  blasts.  Re 
suming  the  march,  and  as  the  rear  regiments 
were  moving  out  into  the  road,  our  cavalry  guard, 
driven  in  by  the  rebels,  came  rushing  through 
the  ranks  of  the  brigade  in  affrighted  confusion, 
breaking  its  files,  and  throwing  the  whole  line 
into  disorder. 

It  was  only  momentary.  A  line  of  battle  com 
posed  of  four  regiments — the  Eleventh  Pennsyl 
vania  and  Ninety-seventh  New  York  on  the  left 
of  the  road,  the  Eighty-eighth  Pennsylvania  and 


A    SUCCESSFUL    AMBUSH.  369 

Thirty-ninth  Massachusetts  on  the  right,  each 
regiment  deploying  skirmishers  in  its  front — was 
thrown  across  the  track  of  the  pursuing  enemy. 
The  cautious  Confederates  came  near  enough  to 
reconnoiter  our  lines,  but  not  near  enough  to  ex 
change  shots.  Supported  by  infantry  bayonets, 
the  cavalry  recovered  their  courage,  and  falling 
into  ranks,  the  advance  was  continued. 

Seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  rebel  cavalry, 
that  had  followed  us  all  day,  was  still  hanging  on 
our  flanks,  with  the  evident  purpose  of  attacking 
some  part  of  the  column  as  we  went  into  bivouac 
for  the  night.  But  there  were  counter-move 
ments  going  on,  quietly  and  secretly,  that  entirely 
defeated  this  purpose  of  our  troublesome  friends. 

Halting  near  the  camp  of  the  division,  by  or 
der  of  General  Crawford,  the  Eleventh  Pennsyl 
vania,  Ninety-seventh  New  York,  and  a  part  of 
the  Eighty-eighth  Pennsylvania,  formed  in  am 
bush  on  either  side  and  across  the  road.  Favored 
by  the  darkness  of  the  evening  and  the  shadow 
of  the  pine  woods  through  which  a  section  of  the 
road  passed,  the  men  crouched  down  behind  the 
fences,  and  awaited  the  coming  of  the  foe.  The 
strategy  was  explained  to  our  cavalry,  who,  first 
making  a  show  of  resistance,  quickly  retired, 
pursued  by  the  rebels,  fifteen  or  twenty  of  whom 
came  within  the  ambush.  It  was  a  fatal  trap  for 
more  than  half  the  number  that  entered  it.  At 
a  word,  a  volley  of  musketry  issued  from  either 


370  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

side  of  the  road,  lighting  up  the  darkness  with  a 
fitful  glare,  and  carrying  death  and  wounds  to 
those  fearless  rebel  riders. 

"If  you  had  delayed  a  day  longer,"  said  one 
of  the  wounded  men,  "you  would  not  be  march 
ing  back  at  your  present  leisure.  A  force  is  now 
in  pursuit  with  orders  not  to  permit  a  single 
raider  to  escape." 

The  knowledge  of  a  pursuing  foe  had  some 
thing  to  do  with  the  early  sound  of  the  bugle  on 
the  following  morning;  and  while  the  stars  were 
yet  shining,  the  troops  started  off  at  a  brisk  walk 
over  ground  frozen  hard  by  the  cold  that  had  in 
creased  with  every  hour  of  the  night.  Late  in  the 
afternoon,  reaching  the  ^Tottoway  liiver,  a  di 
vision  of  the  Xinth  Corps  was  found  halted  on 
the  north  bank.  General  Meade  had  read  the 
signals  of  the  enemy  in  front  of  Petersburg,  and 
with  the  departure  of  the  Confederate  force  to 
intercept  our  return,  sent  Park's  Division  to  re 
inforce  Warren.  Three  cheers  from  the  south 
side  of  the  stream  greeted  those  on  the  north 
side ;  and  crossing  on  pontoons  that  were  soon 
made  to  span  the  river,  two  miles  from  its  bank 
the  army  encamped  until  next  morning. 

By  sundown  of  Monday  we  were  back  again 
in  the  old  position  on  the  Jerusalem  plank-road. 
More  than  a  hundred  miles  had  been  traveled  in 
six  days,  and  with  a  loss  to  the  Eleventh  of  one 
man  severely  wounded,  and  two  missing,  the 


BACK  AGAIN  IN  CAMP.  371 

Hicksford  raid  resulted  in  the  entire  destruction 
to  the  Confederates  of  the  Weldon  Railroad. 

The  Army  of  the  Potomac  quietly  settled  down 
into  winter  quarters.  Dense  forests,  once  so  dif 
ficult  to  traverse,  yielded  to  the  sturdy  blows  of 
the  axe,  and  numerous  log  cabins,  similar  to  those 
erected  north  of  the  Rappahannock  in  the  pre 
ceding  winter,  were  now  seen  covering  miles  of 
territory  where  once  stood  the  baronial  dwellings 
of  the  Randolphs  and  the  Tuckers,  and  around 
which  transpired  scenes  and  events  that  still  live 
in  story. 


CHAPTER  V. 

EXTENDING    THE    LEFT    TO    HATCHER'S    RUN. 

THE  advent  of  the  year  1865,  in  the  prepara 
tions  throughout  the  camps  of  infantry  and  cav 
alry,  gave  notice  of  an  early  campaign.  During 
the  several  weeks  of  comparative  quiet  that  fol 
lowed  the  expedition  to  the  Meherrin  River,  the 
Eleventh  was  adjusting  its  broken  ranks,  and 
preparing  for  the  next  offensive  movements 
against  the  rebels. 

Major  B.  F.  Haines  was  promoted  to  lieuten 
ant-colonel,  vice  H.  A.  Frink,  promoted  to  col- 


372  STORY   OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

onel  of  the  One-hundred-and-eighty-second  Regi 
ment  of  Pennsylvania  Volunteers  ;  Captain  John 
B.  Overmyer  was  commissioned  major ;  Lieuten 
ant  James  Moore  was  made  captain  of  Co.  D ; 
Lieutenant  James  J.  Briggs,  captain  of  Co.  E, 
vice  Henry  B.  Piper,  discharged;  Daniel  Bon- 
bright,  first  lieutenant  of  Co.  E ;  and  Sergeant 
Richard  W.  Morris,  second  lieutenant  of  Co.  H. 

Some  time  before  the  Hicksford  raid,  in  De 
cember,  the  members  of  the  Ninetieth  Penn 
sylvania  Regiment,  who  had  re-enlisted  as  vete 
rans,  were  transferred  to  the  ranks  of  the 
Eleventh.  Belonging  to  the  same  division 
and  brigade,  companions  in  the  march  from 
Washington  to  Petersburg,  side  by  side  these 
two  regiments  had  fought  in  all  the  great 
battles  from  Cedar  Mountain  to  the  Weldon 
Railroad.  The  story  of  one,  with  but  slight  and 
insignificant  changes,  is  the  story  of  the  other. 
It  was  eminently  proper,  at  the  close  of  the 
original  term  of  enlistment,  on  the  retirement  of 
Colonel  Peter  Lyle  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Wil 
liam  A.  Leech,  together  with  a  number  of  the  line 
officers — men  who  did  their  whole  duty  nobly 
and  well — that  what  remained  of  the  Ninetieth 
should  be  consolidated  with  the  Eleventh. 

With  the  opening  of  the  month  of  February 
the  wind  began  to  blow  warm  from  the  south. 
Inspection  of  arms  and  accouterments  had  been 
a  part  of  the  daily  drill  for  more  than  a  week, 


OPENING    OF    THE    CAMPAIGN.  373 

and  on  the  evening  of  February  4th,  when  there 
commenced  all  along  the  lines  a  tierce  bombard 
ment  of  the  rebel  works — such  as  had  not  been 
heard  since  the  close  of  the  fall  campaign — every 
man  knew  that  the  time  to  march  had  come. 

Three  o'clock  Sunday  morning,  the  shrill  blast 
of  the  bugle  gave  notice  that  Gregg's  Division  of 
cavalry  was  in  motion,  moving  down  the  Jerusa 
lem  plank-road.  Two  hours  later,  the  Fifth 
Corps  was  following  the  cavalry,  marching  along 
the  Halifax  road,  with  Ayres's  Division  in  the  ad 
vance,  Griffin  next,  and  Crawford  in  the  rear. 
Further  to  the  right  the  Second  Corps  was 
moving  directly  toward  Hatcher's  Run.  The 
Fifth  Corps  was  intended  to  strike  the  enemy's 
right,  and  so  made  a  detour  to  the  left;  while  the 
Second  Corps,  marching  along  the  Yaughan  road, 
would  strike  the  enemy's  works  on  Hatcher's 
Run  in  front 

Leaving  the  old  camp  on  the  Jerusalem  plank- 
road — which  had  already  served  as  the  starting- 
point  for  several  important  movements — the 
Eleventh  marched  in  rear  of  the  brigade. 
Through  the  stupid  blunder  of  an  aid-de-camp, 
the  troops  started  out  equipped  for  light  march 
ing,  taking  nothing  with  them  but  arms  and  ac- 
couterments.  In  the  afternoon  a  cold,  pelting 
rain-storm  set  in,  continuing  through  most  of 
the  night. 

The  bivouac  on  Dabney's  plantation,  across 
32  " 


374  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

Gravelly  Run,  presented  a  strange  sight  of  men 
crowded  together  around  the  camp-fires,  with  no 
other  protection  than  overcoats,  and  an  occasional 
gum  blanket.  Sleeping  on  the  ground,  in  a  win 
ter  rain-storm,  is  not  well  calculated  to  make  men 
amiable,  and  there  was  a  disposition  on  the  part 
of  many  to  express  their  wrath  in  hard  words. 
But  there  was  also  a  vast  deal  of  patient  endur 
ance  among  those  men  who  covered  up  their 
heads  in  the  capes  of  their  overcoats,  and  with 
feet  to  the  blazing  camp-fire — that  was  made  to 
burn  despite  the  rain — slept  on  until  morning. 

Next  day  the  march  was  continued,  Crawford's 
Division  crossing  Hatcher's  Run,  and  massing 
along  the  bank  of  the  stream.  The  Federal 
battle-line  was  formed  with  the  Second  Corps  on 
the  right,  the  Fifth  Corps  in  the  center,  and  the 
cavalry  on  the  left.  Hatcher's  Run  flows  in  a 
southeasterly  direction,  and  at  its  junction  with 
Gravelly  Run,  forms  the  Rowanty  Creek,  a  deep 
but  sluggish  stream  that  flows  into  the  Nottoway 
River.  The  country  around  is  low  and  swampy, 
cut  up  by  ravines,  and  covered  with  forests 
traversed  here  and  there  by  narrow  country 
roads. 

Early  in  the  morning  the  Second  Corps  carried 
the  first  line  of  the  enemy's  works,  and  was 
firmly  established  on  Hatcher's  Run,  the  left  con 
necting  with  the  Fifth  Corps.  Two  o'clock  P.M. 
of  February  6th,  Crawford's  Division  recrossed 


BATTLE    OF    HATCHER'S    RUN.  375 

Hatcher's  Run,  and  advanced  three-fourths  of  a 
mile  toward  Dabney's  Mill,  with  the  intent  of 
striking  the  Boydton  plank-road.  Baxter's  Bri 
gade  was  formed  in  two  lines  of  battle,  the  Ninety- 
seventh  New  York,  Sixteenth  Maine,  and  Thirty- 
ninth  Massachusetts  in  the  first  line,  and  the 
Eleventh  and  Eighty-eighth  Pennsylvania  in  the 
second  line. 

Colonel  Coulter  had  been  breveted  brigadier- 

O 

general,  and  was  in  command  of  the  Third 
Brigade.  Lieutenant-Colonel  Haines  was  serving 
on  General  Crawford's  staff  as  Inspector-General, 
leaving  the  command  of  the  Eleventh  to  Major 
Overmyer. 

Moving  forward  a  quarter  of  a  mile  further, 
the  first  line  encountered  Pegram's  rebel  division, 
and  in  a  moment  Crawford's  troops  were  in  the 
heat  of  battle.  General  Pegram  was  killed  by 
the  first  volley  from  our  guns,  and  the  ranks  of 
his  division,  missing  the  animating  voice  and 
cheering  presence  of  their  gallant  leader,  were 
pushed  back  in  surprise  and  confusion. 

In  front  of  Crawford  were  the  ruins  of  an  old 
saw-mill  and  a  broad  swamp;  to  the  right  of  his 
line  was  a  strip  of  heavy  forest.  Moving  a  short 
distance  by  the  right  flank,  the  Eleventh  threw 
up  temporary  breastworks  within  the  cover  of 
the  woods.  But  Evans's  Division  was  sent  to  the 
relief  of  Pegram,  and  no  troops  being  on  our 
right,  in  which  direction  the  enemy  was  bearing 


STORY   OF    THE    REGIMENT. 


down  in  large  force,  the  defenses  were  abandoned, 
Crawford's  line  falling  back  some  distance  to  the 
rear. 

The  momentary  lull  in  our  owrn  rapid  firing 
brought  to  our  ears  the  sound  of  battle  as  it  was 
raging  on  the  right  and  on  the  left.  Seeing  the 
enemy  halt  in  the  works  we  had  just  abandoned, 
and  encouraged  by  the  report  of  heavy  reinforce 
ments  coming  up  in  the  rear,  Crawford's  men 
rallied,  retook  the  works  from  the  enemy,  and 
held  them  against  a  terrible  fire. 

The  head  of  Ayres's  Division,  marching  to 
Crawford's  relief,  was  now  in  plain  view.  But 
before  he  could  form  his  line  on  the  right  of  the 
Eleventh,  the  enemy  struck  his  flank,  and  threw 
him  back  on  Hatcher's  Run.  Without  support, 
and  the  last  round  of  ammunition  expended  by 
the  troops  on  the  right,  Crawford's  line  could 
maintain  itself  no  longer,  and  went  down  with  the 
giving  way  of  Ayres. 

Meanwhile  Gregg,  on  the  left,  pressed  on  flank 
and  in  rear  by  the  rebel  cavalry,  was  also  driven 
from  his  defenses,  and  forced  to  retreat  beyond 
Hatcher's  Run.  The  enemy,  still  further  rein 
forced  by  Mahone's  Division,  followed  the  routed 
Federals  with  fiendish  shouts.  Another  disaster 
on  the  left  —  "  the  bloody  left,"  as  the  troops  called 
it  —  appeared  inevitable,  as  the  men,  lost  in  the 
woods,  and  entangled  in  the  swamps  and  ravines, 
made  their  uncertain  way  to  the  rear.  But  the 


BATTLE    OF    HATCHER'S    RUN.  377 

line  of  intrenchments  thrown  up  by  the  Second 
Corps,  on  the  evening  of  the  5th  and  the  morn 
ing  of  the  6th,  was  a  rallying  point  for  the 
troops,  and  from  behind  those  works  a  fire  was 
poured  into  the  eager  Confederates  that  first 
halted  their  lines,  and  then  sent  them  back  to 
the  cover  of  the  woods.  It  was  now  dark  night. 
The  noise  of  battle  had  ceased,  and  secure 
within  its  defenses,  the  Federal  line  kept  a  firm 
hold  on  Hatcher's  Ran. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  February  7th,  the 
enemy  showed  himself  in  front  of  our  infantry 
and  cavalry  pickets,  keeping  up  a  heavy  skirmish 
fire  for  several  hours,  but  making  no  attempt  to 
charge  our  lines.  Toward  noon  Crawford's  Di 
vision,  supported  on  the  left  by  General  Wheaton, 
marched  along  the  earthworks  a  mile  to  the  right 
of  the  Yaughan  road.  Debouching  from  the  in 
trenchments,  the  Thirty-ninth  Massachusetts,  of 
Baxter's  Brigade,  supported  by  the  Eleventh 
Pennsylvania,  was  thrown  forward  as  skirmish 
ers.  At  the  moment  of  marching  out  into  com 
paratively  open  ground,  as  though  possessed  with 
the  thought  of  testing  the  strength  of  our  works 
across  the  Vaughan  road,  a  line  of  the  enemy's 
skirmishers  was  seen  issuing  from  behind-  tem 
porary  works,  and  moving  toward  us.  The  con 
test  between  the  skirmishers  was  short  and  de 
cisive,  resulting  in  the  driving  back  of  the  rebels, 
and  the  capture  of  their  defenses. 
32* 


378  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

The  Eleventh  remained  on  the  picket  line  un 
til  ten  o'clock  P.M.,  and  without  attacking  the 
main  line  of  the  Confederates,  Crawford  retired 
behind  Hatcher's  Run,  where  the  division  biv 
ouacked  until  morning. 

Throughout  the  livelong  night  was  heard  the 
sound  of  the  axe  and  the  spade,  as  thousands  of 
workmen  threw  up  strong  and  enduring  in- 
trenchments.  On  the  afternoon  of  February  8th, 
Baxter's  entire  brigade  was  sent  out  on  picket. 
But  the  enemy  maintained  a  sullen  silence.  Con 
tent  to  defend  the  Boydton  plank-road  against  all 
attacks,  Hatcher's  Bun  was  given  up  without  a 
further  struggle,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  10th, 
the  Eleventh  marched  back  to  the  old  camp  near 
Jerusalem  plank-road,  losing  in  the  first  cam 
paign  of  the  new  year  eighty-nine  officers  and 
men. 

Two  days  later,  the  military  railroad  running 
from  City  Point  was  extended  to  Hatcher's  Run, 
which  thus  became  the  extreme  left  of  the  Fed 
eral  battle-line,  a  success  of  no  little  importance 
in  the  subsequent  campaign. 


FINAL    CONCENTRATION.  379 


CHAPTER  VI. 

FINAL    CONCENTRATION. 

THE  extension  of  the  left  flank  to  Hatcher's 
Run  was  followed  by  several  weeks  of  almost  en 
tire  inaction  to  the  armies  besieging  Richmond 
and  Petersburg.  But  it  was  not  inaction  after 
all ;  it  was  the  labor  of  patient  waiting.  Sher 
man  had  completed  his  march  from  Atlanta  to 
the  sea,  and  turning  northward,  the  tramp  of  his 
legions  was  heard  moving  across  the  Carolinas. 
A  second  attempt  had  reduced  Fort  Fisher  to  a 
Federal  garrison,  over  whose  parapets  now  waved 
the  old  flag,  while  a  column  of  brave  troops, 
thirty  thousand  strong,  were  marching  inland 
from  Wilmington  and  JsTewbern  to  join  Sherman. 
One  comprehensive  mind  was  directing  all  the 
parts,  and  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  beginning 
the  campaign  on  Hatcher's  Run,  was  resting  on 
its  arms,  awaiting  the  Lieutenant-General's  final 
concentration. 

For  two  or  three  days  President  Lincoln,  and 
a  party  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  from  Washing 
ton,  had  been  the  guests  of  General  Grant.  Be 
fore  returning  to  the  capital,  the  President  was 


380  STORY   OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

to  review  the  army,  throughout  whose  ranks  ac 
tive  preparations  were  making  for  the  event. 
General  officers  sent  to  City  Point  for  dress-coats, 
and  fancy  horse  trappings,  that  had  been  left 
there  as  of  no  use  at  the  front;  while  the  men, 
compelled  to  wear  whatever  the  quartermaster 
provided,  burnished  their  muskets,  and  rubbed 
to  silvery  brightness  the  brass  plates  of  their  ac- 
couterments. 

Daylight  of  March  25th — the  day  appointed 
for  the  review — the  troops  were  startled  from 
their  bomb-proof  sleeping  apartments  by  firing 
on  the  right.  It  was  too  early  in  the  morning 
for  a  salute,  and  the  practiced  ear  of  the  soldier 
detected  in  the  thud  of  the  distant  guns  some 
thing  more  than  the  noise  of  a  blank  cartridge. 

The  click  of  the  telegraph  at  Crawford's  head 
quarters,  whose  first  anticipated  message  was  an 
order  to  fall  in  line  for  review,  told  of  the  rebel 
attack  on  Fort  Steadman,  and  an  hour  later  the 
division  was  marching  at  a  quick  step  to  the 
right.  Two  divisions  of  the  enemy,  quietly  mass 
ing  in  front  of  the  Ninth  Corps,  burst  upon  our 
intrenchments,  and  capturing  the  fort,  turned  its 
nine  guns  upon  the  adjacent  batteries.  It  was  a 
brilliant  achievement,  but  its  success  was  short 
lived.  Rallying  from  all  points  of  the  Federal 
line,  the  daring  enemy  was  pushed  out  into 
the  space  over  which  he  came,  now  swept  by 
the  cross-fire  of  a  score  of  batteries  right  and 


THE    ARMY    INCREDULOUS.  381 

left  of  Steadman.  There  was  no  alternative  but 
to  surrender,  and  two  thousand  prisoners  were 
sent  to  the  rear.  Thus  the  review  was  changed 
into  a  hattle  ;  and  Crawford's  Division  marched 
back  to  its  place  on  the  left. 

For  three  days  after,  the  camps  were  all  alive 
with  preparations  for  a  general  move.  But  when 
the  order  came,  on  the  29th  of  March,  there  was 
nothing  borne  on  the  wings  of  the  wind,  or  seen 
in  the  face  of  the  sky,  to  indicate  that  the  army 
was  beginning  its  last  campaign.  Rumors  reached 
us  of  the  conference  of  generals  at  City  Point, 
and  the  union  of  the  armies  of  Meade  and  Sher 
man.  But  all  that  had  been  talked  of  many  times 
before.  The  rank  and  file  had  grown  incredu 
lous.  Four  years  of  war,  while  it  made  the  men 
brave  and  valorous,  had  entirely  cured  them  of 
imagining  that  each  campaign  would  be  the  last. 
Passing  by  the  cooking  apartment  of  regimental 
headquarters,  a  soldier  struck  his  musket  against 
the  cracker-box,  set  up  on  a  barrel  to  help  the 
draught  of  the  chimney. 

"Don't  knock  dat  chimbly  down,  please,  sah," 
was  the  polite  expostulation  of  the  cook.  "We'll 
be  back  here  agin  in  a  week,  and  I'll  want  to 
use  it." 

But  Struthers  was  a  false  prophet.  That  was 
our  last  move  from  the  old  camp  near  the  Jeru 
salem  plank-road. 

Wednesday  morning,  March  29th,  as  early  as 


382  STORY   OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

three  o'clock,  the  Fifth  Corps  was  moving  in  the 
direction  of  Dinwiddie  Court  House.  Sheridan's 
cavalry  was  in  the  advance,  with  instructions  to 
find  the  enemy's  right,  and,  if  possible,  force 
him  from  his  intrenchments.  Crawford's  Divi 
sion  moved  along  the  Halifax  road,  Baxter's 
Brigade  bringing  up  the  rear.  Time  was  when 
the  Eleventh  alone  would  have  made  a  show  of 
'resistance  quite  equal  in  numbers  to  that  pre 
sented  by  the  entire  brigade.  Neither  through 
volunteering  nor  drafting  could  the  ranks  be 
kept  up  to  more  than  a  fourth  of  their  original 
strength  for  duty. 

By  noon  we  had  passed  the  line  of  earthworks 
on  the  left,  and  moving  southward,  crossed  Row 
an  ty  Creek,  below  the  junction  of  Gravelly  and 
Hatcher's  Run.  Following  the  road  to  Dinwid 
die  Court  House  as  far  as  the  Quaker  road,  the 
troops  turned  up  the  latter,  and  crossed  Gravelly 
Run.  The  line  of  the  Fifth  Corps  was  formed 
with  Griffin  on  the  right,  Ayres  in  the  center,  and 
Crawford  on  the  left.  In  front  of  the  entire  line 
were  the  enemy's  skirmishers,  disputing  every 
step  of  our  advance.  But  it  was  Griffin,  near 
the  old  saw- mill,  that  had  the  sharpest  engage 
ment,  inflicting  a  severe  loss  upon  the  enemy, 
and  losing  heavily  himself.  The  left  of  the  line, 
not  thus  delayed,  swung  around  further  to  the 
front,  until  near  its  junction  with  the  Quaker 
road.  The  brigade  commanded  by  General  Coul- 


BOYDTON    PLANK-ROAD    OCCUPIED.  383 

ter  was  the  first  to  lay  its  hands  on  the  coveted 
Boydton  plank-road,  and  by  early  evening  a 
strong  line  of  intrench ments  was  stretched 
across  it. 

The  rain  that  commenced  falling  in  drenching 
showers  with  the  setting  in  of  night,  though  it 
did  not  prevent  the  men  from  extending  the  de 
fenses,  confined  the  operations  of  March  30th  to 
short  advances  and  reconnoiterings  along  the 
plank-road  as  far  to  the  right  as  Burgess's  Mill. 
March  31st,  the  storm  was  over;  but  the  whole 
country  round  was  one  vast  swamp,  holding  fast 
in  its  quagmire  everything  on  wheels.  The  only 
exception  to  the  fiat,  marshy  character  of  the 
ground  was  the  line  held  by  the  enemy,  running 
along  the  White  Oak  Ridge,  whose  tolerably  good 
road  crossed  the  Boydton  plank-road  near  Bur 
gess's  Mill,  and  continued  on  to  Petersburg. 

General  Lee  was  not  ignorant  of  Grant's  move 
ments  on  the  left,  and  with  heavy  reinforcements 
from  Petersburg,  was  directing  in  person  the 
operations  in  our  front.  Toward  eleven  o'clock  a 
brigade  of  Ayres's  Division  was  sent  out  against 
the  enemy's  skirmishers.  The  object  was  to 
discover  with  what  force  he  held  the  White 
Oak  road.  Our  troops  had  only  advanced  a  few 
hundred  yards,  when  the  repulse  became  gen 
eral,  and  Winthrop's  Brigade  returned. 

Meanwhile,  the  rebels  were  also  contemplating 
a  forward  move ;  and  seizing  that  as  a  favorable 


884  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

moment,  the  Confederates  fell  upon  Ayres,  from 
the  north  and  the  west,  breaking  his  ranks  and 
forcing  him  back  in  confusion.  Crawford's  lines 
were  also  carried  down  in  the  assault,  both  divi 
sions  falling  back  on  Griffin,  who  was  in  position 
along  the  bank  of  a  small  stream — a  branch  of 
Gravelly  Run — west  of  the  plank-road.  Four 
hours  later,  with  broken  ranks  reformed,  Gen 
eral  Warren  advanced  the  entire  available  force 
of  the  Fifth  Corps,  driving  the  enemy  back  into 
his  intrenchments,  capturing  almost  the  whole  of 
the  Fifty-sixth  Virginia  Regiment,  with  its  com 
plete  stand  of  colors. 

Sheridan  and  his  cavalry  bivouacked  at  Din- 
widdie  Court  House  March  29th.  IText  day  a 
reconnoissance  toward  Five  Forks  drove  back 
parties  of  the  enemy's  skirmishers,  and  devel 
oped  a  strong  force  in  position,  holding  the  White 
Oak  road.  Returning  once  more  to  Dinwiddie, 
the  troopers  awaited  the  coming  of  March  31st. 
Early  Friday  morning  they  were  moving  out 
along  the  several  roads  concentrating  at  Din 
widdie,  to  the  attack  of  Five  Forks.  But 
there  were  counter-movements  from  the  rebel 
side.  As  a  military  point,  the  Court  House  was 
all-important,  and  must  not  be  left  in  the  hands 
of  the  Yankees.  Starting  as  early  as  Sheridan, 
the  enemy  met  him  in  the  way  with  cavalry  and 
infantry. 

The  Fifth  Corps  was  distant  several  miles  from 


REINFORCING    SHERIDAN.  385 

where  the  opposing  forces  first  exchanged  shots. 
But  the  sound  of  battle  could  be  distinctly  heard, 
and  toward  evening  the  receding  noise  suggested 
the  driving  of  our  cavalry  before  the  enemy. 
Later  in  the  day  an  officer  of  Sheridan's  com 
mand,  cut  off  in  an  attack,  found  his  way  within 
the  lines  of  the  Fifth  Corps,  confirming  the  sus 
picion  that  the  cavalry  had  been  driven  back  to 
Dinwiddie. 

Army  headquarters  were  all  astir,  and  orders 
quick  and  fast  were  transmitted  to  Warren.  At 
one  time  a  brigade  is  ordered  to  be  sent  down  the 
White  Oak  road,  and  at  another  time  down  the 
Boydton  plank-road.  One  order  directs  Warren  to 
open  communications  with  Sheridan ;  by  another 
he  is  told  to  halt  his  troops  at  Gravelly  Run. 
Eight  o'clock,  it  was  intimated  in  a  confidential 
note  that  the  Federal  battle-line  would  be  con 
tracted,  and  an  hour  after  Warren  was  directed 
to  draw  back  two  of  his  divisions  within  the 
Boydton  plank-road,  sending  the  remaining  divi 
sion  to  report  to  Sheridan. 

One  o'clock  A.M.  ot  April  1st,  it  became  known 
that  Sheridan  could  not  maintain  himself  at  Din 
widdie  without  reinforcements,  and  as  these  could 
only  reach  him  from  the  Fifth  Corps,  its  com 
mander  was  urged  to  use  every  exertion  to  get 
troops  to  him  as  soon  as  possible.  The  bridge 
across  the  swollen  stream  of  Gravelly  Hun,  now 
too  deep  for  infantry  to  ford,  had  to  be  rebuilt, 

33 


386  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

and  with  the  first  order  to  send  troops  to  the  re 
lief  of  Sheridan,  a  pioneer  force  was  set  to  work 
spanning  the  creek. 

Two  o'clock  A.M.,  the  bridge  was  completed, 
and  Ay  res' s  Division  reported  to  General  Sheri 
dan.  The  enemy  that  had  driven  Sheridan  back 
to  Dinwiddie  retired  from  his  front  during  the 

O 

night  and  early  morning  of  April  1st.  With 
drawing  from  White  Oak  Ridge  in  line  of  battle, 
first  Griffin  and  last  Crawford  marched  in  the 
direction  of  the  Court  House,  and  by  ten  o'clock 
A.M.  Sheridan  was  reinforced  by  the  three  divi 
sions  of  the  Fifth  Corps. 


CHAPTER  VH. 

FIFTH-  CORPS    WITH    SHERIDAN. 

THE  movement  of  the  Fifth  Corps  to  Dinwid 
die  Court  House  was  a  part  of  Grant's  general 
plan,  and  placed  Warren  under  the  immediate 
orders  of  General  Sheridan,  with  whom  he  was 
to  co-operate. 

Eleven  o'clock  of  April  1st,  the  three  divisions 
of  Griffin,  Ayres,  and  Crawford  were  in  position 
near  Gravelly  Run,  looking  toward  the  White 
Oak  road.  The  thick  fog  had  cleared  away,  and 
long  lines  of  cavalry,  soiled  with  mud,  but  with 


GETTING   INTO    POSITION.  387 

spirit  and  daring  in  every  look  and  movement, 
were  seen  marching  in  the  direction  taken  by 
the  retiring  Confederates.  Two  hours  later  Gen- 

O 

eral  Warren  was  ordered  to  move  his  corps  to 
the  front,  the  enemy  having  made  a  stand  which 
promised  to  be  obstinate,  behind  formidable  in- 
trenchments  at  Five  Forks. 

Up  to  this  moment  General  Lee  seems  to  have 
been  in  strange  ignorance  of  the  doings  on  his 
right.  Assured  that  with  a  knowledge  of  the 
danger  imperiling  his  flank  would  come  rein 
forcements,  or  a  retreat,  Sheridan,  anxious  to 
improve  the  golden  opportunity,  was  impatient 
at  the  slightest  apparent  delay. 

The  roads  were  heavy  with  mud,  and  the  men 
worn  down  by  four  nights  of  marching  and 
battle.  It  may  have  looked  like  slow  plodding, 
as  the  troops  crowded  through  that  narrow  lane, 
leading  past  Gravelly  Run  Church  to  the  White 
Oak  road.  But  they  were  doing  all  that  men 
depending  upon  their  own  legs  alone  could  do, 
and  when  they  merged  out  into  the  open  ground 
upon  which  they  were  to  act,  the  compact  lines  of 
the  old  Fifth  Corps  told  that  the  lessons  learned 
in  the  van  of  many  important  army  movements, 
since  the  crossing  of  the  Rapidan  a  year  before, 
were  not  quite  forgotten. 

The  right  of  the  battle-line  was  given  to  Craw 
ford's  Division,  and  the  left  to  Ayres,  Griffin 
forming  his  ranks  behind  Crawford.  A  hurried 


388  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

survey  of  the  ground  in  front  enabled  General 
Warren  to  explain  to  his  division  and  brigade 
commanders  the  part  that  each  one  was  expected 
to  perform.  The  cavalry  was  to  attack  in  front, 
while  the  infantry,  crossing  the  White  Oak  road, 
was  to  carry  the  enemy's  flank  and  rear. 

The  lines  moved  out  in  splendid  style.  But  a 
faulty  calculation  as  to  the  exact  position  of  the 
enemy's  left  flank,  and  the  difficult  nature  of  the 
ground  over  which  the  troops  were  moving — 
through  bogs,  and  tangled  woods,  and  thickets 
of  pine — threw  Crawford  too  far  to  the  right. 
The  assault  intended  to  be  made  by  the  Third 
Division,  supported  by  Griffin,  as  a  consequence 
fell  upon  Ayres. 

The  first  volley  from  the  muskets  of  the  in 
fantry  was  the  signal  of  attack  for  the  cavalry  in 
front.  It  was  now  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
and  though  assailed  on  the  flank  and  in  front, 
and  threatened  in  the  rear,  the  enemy  made  a 
bold  and  gallant  defense.  Griffin  came  into  the 
gap  between  Ayres  and  Crawford,  while  the 
latter,  wheeling  to  the  left,  crossed  the  Ford  road, 
a  country  highway  running  through  the  center 
of  the  enemy's  position  and  directly  in  his  rear. 
It  was  not  intended  that  the  Federal  line  should 
take  such  a  formation,  but  it  was  this  form  alone 
that  made  the  battle  of  Five  Forks  such  a  com 
plete  victory.  Staggered  at  first  by  the  heavy  fire 
that  struck  their  left  flank,  and  unable  for  the 


BATTLE   OF   FIVE    FORKS.  389 

thick  woods  and  bushes  to  see  the  foe  with  whom 
they  were  contending,  Ayres's  men  faltered  a 
moment.  But  it  was  only  for  a  moment.  Re 
covering  from  their  surprise  as  they  neared  the 
enemy's  intrenchments,  they  charged  his  works 
at  a  single  bound,  capturing  hundreds  of  prison 
ers  and  several  flags.  Joined  by  Griffin,  who  had 
also  wheeled  to  the  left,  both  divisions  went 
sweeping  down  the  line  of  rebel  works  toward 
Five  Forks.  The  cavalry  was  already  on  the 
right  flank,  and  it  only  needed  Crawford  to  close 
in  upon  the  Ford  road  to  cut  off  every  avenue  of 
escape. 

Crawford's  line  was  formed  with  the  First 
Brigade  on  the  right,  the  Second  (Baxter)  on  the 
left,  and  the  Third  (Coulter)  in  the  rear.  The 
Third  Brigade  was  soon  ordered  to  the  front,  to 
fill  up  the  gap  between  our  own  and  the  Second 
Division,  bringing  it  next  to  the  Eleventh  Regi 
ment,  holding  the  left  of  Baxter's  second  line. 
The  fire  of  the  enemy  now  became  severe,  espe 
cially  on  Crawford's  center  and  left.  But  shouts 
and  cheers,  rising  above  the  din  of  clashing 
arms,  were  heard  from  every  part  of  the  field. 

The  moment  had  come  for  the  final  charge, 
and  riding  to  the  right,  Warren  directed  Craw 
ford  to  move  down  the  Ford  road,  and  attack 
the  enemy  in  rear  of  his  fortifications.  The  ad 
vance  was  given  to  General  Coulter,  the  other 
two  brigades  marching  in  near  support.  Across 
33* 


390  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 

the  road,  and  in  a  position  to  defend  all  its  ap 
proaches,  was  a  rebel  battery  of  four  guns  and  a 
strong  line  of  infantry.  Against  this  force  the 
division  was  pressing  down,  meeting  in  its  ranks 
a  rapid  and  destructive  fire,  from  which  the  troops 
were  at  first  disposed  to  shield  themselves  in  the 
woods  on  either  side  of  the  road.  But  the  en 
thusiasm  of  certain  success  carried  them  on 
ward. 

Coulter  was  handsomely  sustained  by  Baxter, 
and  when  the  men  of  the  Third  Brigade  shouted 
over  the  taking  of  the  battery  whose  terrible  ex 
ecution  could  be  seen  in  the  breaks  in  their 
ranks,  so  near  was  the  Eleventh  to  its  old  com 
mander  that  not  only  did  it  join  in  the  cheer,  but 
charging  the  enemy's  line  of  infantry,  Sergeant 
H.  A.  Delavie,  of  Co.  I,  seized  the  flag  of  the 
Thirty-second  Virginia  Regiment  from  its  re 
treating  bearer,  and  waved  it  aloft  over  the 
enemy's  captured  works. 

A  short  distance  beyond  where  the  guns  were 
taken,  Crawford  connected  with  the  First  and 
Second  Divisions,  and  without  halting  for  an  in 
stant,  the  lines  of  the  Fifth  Corps,  as  they  bore 
down  on  Five  Forks,  moving  through  the  rifle- 
pits  and  over  the  intrenchments  of  the  enemy, 
swept  them  clean  of  everything  dressed  in  gray. 

Crawford's  Division  lost  three  hundred  in 
killed  and  wounded,  Ayres's  Division  two  hun 
dred  and  five,  Griffin's  Division  one  hundred  and 


THE    LAST    MARCH    OF   THE    FIFTH    CORPS.      391 

twenty-five,  in  all  six  hundred  and  thirty-four 
men.  But  the  enemy's  right  flank  was  com 
pletely  broken,  leaving  between  five  and  six  thou 
sand  prisoners  in  our  hands;  the  Fifth  Corps 
alone  capturing  over  three  thousand  men,  with 
their  arms,  eleven  regimental  colors,  and  one 
four-gun  battery  with  its  caissons.  Seven  o'clock 
P.M.,  camp-fires  were  burning  in  every  direction, 
around  which  gathered  groups  of  men,  jubilant 
over  the  successes  of  the  day.  Retracing  its 
steps  over  the  line  of  battle,  the  Fifth  Corps 
bivouacked  at  night  on  the  White  Oak  road, 
near  Gravel Iv  Run  Church. 


CHAPTER  YIH. 

THE    LAST    MARCH    OF    THE    FIFTH    CORPS. 

THE  second  day  of  April  was  Sabbath — a 
bright,  clear  day.  Called  from  their  bivouac 
near  Gravelly  Run  Church,  whose  closed  doors 
reminded  us  of  the  wicked  times  upon  which  we 
had  fallen,  the  two  divisions  of  Crawford  and 
Griffin,  turning  their  backs  upon  Five  Forks,  at 
an  early  hour  in  the  morning  were  marching  in 
the  direction  of  Petersburg,  to  open  communi 
cation  with  the  main  body  of  the  army  on  the 
right. 


392  STORY   OF   THE   REGIMENT. 

The  enemy  was  found  in  strong  position  di 
rectly  across  our  path,  at  the  junction  of  the 
White  Oak  and  Claiborne  roads.  Miles's  Divi 
sion  of  the  Second  Corps,  sent  to  reinforce  Sher 
idan,  and  that  marched  in  front  of  the  Fifth 
Corps,  at  once  opened  the  attack  on  the  enemy. 
Before  the  lines  of  Crawford  and  Griffin  could 
be  formed,  General  Humphreys,  with  the  rest  of 
the  Second  Corps,  moved  down  from  the  right. 
The  connection  with  the  right  of  the  army  was 
now  complete,  and  leaving  Miles  to  act  with  his 
own  corps,  Sheridan  countermarched  the  Fifth 
Corps  to  Five  Forks,  and  crossing  Hatcher's  Run 
by  the  Ford  road,  reached  the  Southside  Railroad 
without  opposition. 

A  thousand  caps  went  swinging  into  the  air  as 
the  troops  crossed  that  great  thoroughfare  of  the 
Confederate  army.  The  men  believed  that  they 
had  now  reached  the  objective  point  of  the  cam 
paign,  and  with  willing  hands  awaited  the  order 
to  unsling  knapsacks,  and  commence  the  work 
of  tearing  up  the  railroad.  But  instead  of  a 
halt,  the  march  was  continued  at  a  quick  step 
up  the  road  toward  Petersburg.  Then,  obliqu 
ing  to  the  left,  and  still  marching  on  across 
Chandler's  Run,  late  at  night  the  Eleventh  biv 
ouacked  in  line  of  battle  north  of  Sutherland 
Station,  the  right  of  the  regiment  resting  on 
ISTamozine  road,  and  connecting  on  the  left  with 
the  rest  of  Baxter's  Brigade. 


GENERAL    WARREN    RELIEVED.  393 

The  absence  of  General  Warren  from  the 
head  of  the  column,  a8  it  filed  out  into  the 
White  Oak  road,  early  in  the  morning,  was  the 
first  intimation  to  the  troops  that  the  general 
had  been  relieved  of  the  command.  With  the 
splendid  achievements  of  General  Sheridan  fully 
acknowledged,  and  with  an  admiration  of  his 
dashing  soldierly  qualities  second  to  none,  the 
men  of  the  Fifth  Corps  have  never  forgiven  him 
for  his  hasty  action  toward  their  well-tried  com 
mander. 

The  successes  that  followed  the  victory  of  Five 
Forks — a  victory  which  belongs  as  much  to 
Warren  as  to  Sheridan — and  that  culminated  in 
the  surrender  of  General  Lee,  sunk  out  of  sight 
many  things  that  might  otherwise  have  come  to 
the  surface.  Regarded  at  the  time  as  a  freak  of 
temper  rather  than  the  dictate  of  calm  and  sober 
judgment,  the  removal  of  General  Warren  re 
mains  to  this  day  without  the  justification  of 
reason  or  expediency. 

The  enemy  that  we  knew  to  be  behind  the  line 
of  earthworks  in  front  of  our  bivouac,  slipped 
away  during  the  night,  and  on  the  morning  of 
April  3d  the  Fifth  Corps,  commanded  by  Gen 
eral  Griffin,  moved  out  with  its  accustomed 
promptness. 

Too  busy  with  the  exciting  contest  in  our  im 
mediate  front  to  hear  the  guns  that  had  opened 
all  along  the  front  of  Petersburg,  it  was  not 


394  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

until  this  morning  that  we  knew  of  the  success 
ful  storming  of  its  outer  defenses,  and  the  com 
pression  of  our  lines  around  the  city.  It  was 
while  the  men  were  waiting  for  the  order  to  fall 
into  ranks,  that  a  deep  and  prolonged  cheer 
came  rolling  along  the  line  of  troops,  like  the 
swellings  of  a  tornado,  telling  that  Petersburg 
and  Richmond  were  both  evacuated,  and  that 
the  whole  rebel  army  was  in  precipitate  retreat 
toward  Danville. 

If  the  quartermaster  had  gone  through  the 
ranks  of  the  Eleventh,  and,  taking  up  all  the 
sore  feet  and  stiffened  limbs,  had  issued  to  each 
man  of  the  regiment  a  new  pair  of  legs,  they 
could  not  have  marched  forth  with  a  more 
supple  step.  The  roads  over  which  we  moved 
were  the  same,  in  their  make-up,  that  we  had 
been  traversing  for  four  long  and  wearisome 
years — swamps  and  woods,  varied  only  by  woods 
and  swamps.  That  day,  too,  we  were  marching, 
at  a  dog- trot,  after  Merritt's  cavalry;  but  all  fa 
tigue  was  gone.  From  his  place  in  the  ranks 
each  private  soldier  could  see  the  end  of  the  re 
bellion  in  the  capture  of  Lee's  retreating  army: 
and  toward  that  point  everything  was  now  made 
to  bend. 

Ten  o'clock  at  night  we  bivouacked  at  Deep 
Creek,  with  the  Appomattox  River  not  far  to  our 
right.  Scores  of  stragglers  from  the  Southern 
army,  and  multitudes  of  contrabands,  who  had 


BIVOUAC    AT    DEEP    CREEK.  395 

lost  their  masters,  had  fallen  into  the  moving 
column  during  the  day.  Gathered  around  the 
camp-fires  that  the  chilly  night-air  still  made 
pleasant  and  agreeable,  the  events  of  the  passing 
hours  were  discussed  with  an  interest  as  absorb 
ing  as  cabinet  ministers  could  discuss  them. 

An  hour  later  most  of  the  men  had  stretched 
themselves  on  the  ground  to  sleep.  Walking  up 
and  down  through  the  ranks  of  prostrate  forms, 
we  found  ourselves  not  alone  wakeful  with  the 
thoughts  of  the  past  and  the  promises  of  the  fu 
ture.  With  heads  toward  the  fire  lay  huddled 
together  a  group  of  darkies,  all  on  terms  of  the 
most  friendly  intimacy.  We  came  upon  them, 
unobserved,  and  waited  a  moment  to  listen  to 
their  talk. 

"I  feels  better  to-night  than  I  did  after  that 
fight  at  Gettysburg,"  said  one,  whose  voice  was 
at  once  recognized.  "  That  was  a  mighty  warm 
place,  I  tell  you.  It  seemed  to  me  as  if  I'd 
never  git  away  from  thar.  I  felt  as  if  I  wanted  to 
pray,  but  de  colonel's  Jim  was  thar,  and  de  doc 
tor's  Andy,  and  I  didn't  like  to  let  'em  see  me. 
Then  the  shells  begin  to  come  faster  than  ever, 
and  dey  seemed  to  say  as  plain  as  anything, 
H-a-r-vey!  H-a-r-vey!!  So  I  stretched  myself 
square  on  de  ground,  jist  as  I'm  laying  now,  and 
I  said  low  to  myself,  0,  Lord,  if  you  please,  do 
de  very  best  you  can  for  Harvey.  Jist  then  I 
heard  an  awiul  hollering.  Andy  said,  *  do  John- 


396  STORY    OF   THE    REGIMENT. 

nies  is  gitting  whipt;'  and  it  was.  all  true.  I  felt 
good  then;  but  I  feels  a  heap  better  now." 

Daylight  of  April  4th  the  Fifth  Corps  was 
again  on  the  move.  The  cavalry  had  divided 
into  three  separate  columns,  and  were  pushing 
forward  to  harass  the  flank,  and  cross  the  front 
of  the  retreating  Southerners.  It  was  the  same 
hurried  mirch  to-day  as  yesterday;  and  not  until 
the  head  of  the  column  crossed  the  Richmond 
and  Danville  Railroad  at  Jetersville,  sixteen 
miles  from  the  place  of  starting,  was  the  bard 
day's  work  completed. 

Throughout  the  day  of  April  5th  Griffin's 
Corps  remained  intrenched  at  Jetersville.  Ame 
lia  Court  House  was  five  miles  to  the  northeast, 
and  already  in  possession  of  the  Confederate  ad 
vance.  o!s~ext  day,  turning  westward,  General 
Lee  marched  with  rapid  haste  for  Farmville,  in 
the  desperate  endeavor  to  place  the  Appomattox 
River  between  himself  and  his  eager  pursuers. 
It  was  on  this  morning  that  Sheridan  turned 
over  the  Fifth  Corps  to  General  Meade.  It  had 
followed  the  cavalry  for  three  days,  keeping  up 
with  the  troopers  in  all  their  long  and  hurried 
marches,  and  watching  at  night  in  the  same  line 
of  battle,  or  resting  in  the  same  bivouac. 

The  Sixth  Corps  was  now  pushed  to  the  front. 
Moving  one  day  on  the  flank  of  the  army  as  far 
to  the  left  as  Prince  Edward  Court  House,  and 
the  next  day  hanging  on  the  rear  of  the  retreat- 


GENERAL  LEE  SURRENDERS.        397 

ing  rebels,  April  9th  the  Fifth  Corps  halted  at 
Appomattox  Court  Honse. 

The  9th  day  of  April,  1865,  was  Sabbath;  just 
such  a  calm,  clear  day  as  the  one  that  preceded 
it,  on  which  we  moved  out  from  our  bivouac 
near  Gravelly  Run  Church.  The  two  armies  of 
Grant  and  Lee  were  at  last  together,  with  only 
the  little  town  of  Appomattox  between  them. 
But  there  was  no  deploying  of  skirmishers,  or 
movements  of  divisions  into  lines  of  battle,  or 
unlimbering  of  cannon.  The  army  of  General 
Lee  had  surrendered;  and  in  a  small  house, 
plainly  seen  low-squatted  within  a  green  inclos- 
ure,  and  before  whose  door  an  orderly  on  horse 
back  still  held  the  white  flag  brought  in  by  Gor 
don  and  Wilcox,  Grant  and  Lee  were  settling 
the  terms  of  capitulation. 


34 


398  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

HOMEWARD    BOUND. 

THE  great  work  done,  and  well  done,  the  lines 
of  the  victorious  Federal  army  began  to  draw 
away  from  the  scenes  of  the  surrender,  leaving 
the  Fifth  Corps  behind  to  carry  out  the  terms 
of  the  capitulation  and  to  take  charge  of  the 
public  property.  We  confess  to  a  feeling  of 
loneliness,  as  with  the  disappearance  of  the  last 
brigade  over  the  hill  that  bounded  our  view,  the 
notes  of  fife  and  drum,  every  moment  growing 
fainter,  were  heard  no  more. 

But  the  morning  came  when  the  spoils  of  war 
were  all  secured,  and  the  last  Southern  soldier 
paroled.  Then  the  bugle  sounded  the  order  to 
march.  It  was  the  homeward  march.  One  look 
at  the  beautiful  country  around  the  head- waters 
of  the  Appomattox,  and,  with  faces  once  more 
toward  Richmond,  the  column  moved  forward, 
first  to  Farmville,  and  then  along  the  Rich 
mond  and  Danville  pike  to  the  banks  of  the 
James.  As  we  crossed  the  river,  Belle  Island 
was  in  full  view,  bringing  an  angry  look  to  the 
eyes  of  the  men,  that  at  last  expressed  itself  in 
derisive  cheers,  as  they  marched  by  the  doors  of 
Libbv  Prison  and  Castle  Thunder. 


IN    SIGHT    OF    WASHINGTON.  399 

The  day  before  the  evacuation  of  Richmond, 
the  only  remaining  prisoners  confined  in  Libby 
were  sent  down  the  river  for  exchange.  Among 
these  was  Captain  James  T.  Chalfant,  of  Co.  F, 
captured  at  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness,  May 
5th,  1864.  After  nearly  a  year's  experience  in 
the  prison-pens  of  Lynchburg,  Macon,  Charles 
ton,  Columbia,  and  Charlotte,  twice  making  his 
escape,  and  each  time  recaptured,  the  captain 
was  the  last  Pennsylvania!!  to  leave  Richmond 
as  a  prisoner. 

Richmond  was  now  in  the  rear,  and  moving 
over  the  Peninsula,  across  the  Chickahominy 
and  the  Pamunkey,  and  then  across  the  Rappa- 
hannock  at  Fredericksburg,  we 

"  Nightly  pitched  our  moving  tents 
A  day's  march  nearer  home  ;" 

until  one  evening,  in  the  last  hours  of  sunlight, 
the  troops  looked  down  from  Hall's  Hill  upon 
the  City  of  Washington,  smiling  at  the  return  of 
peace,  but  sad  and  stricken  over  the  death  of 
Abraham  Lincoln. 

After  a  few  days  of  rest  and  quiet  came  the 
grand  review  of  the  armies  of  Meade  and  Sher 
man  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  the 
Secretary  of  War,  and  General  Grant.  Then 
followed  the  work  of  disbanding;  and  the  ranks 
of  the  Federal  army  were  scattered  from  Maine 
to  Minnesota,  each  true  volunteer  forgetting  the 


400  STORY    OF    THE    REGIMENT.  - 

calling  of  the  soldier  in  the  more  peaceful  duties 
of  the  citizen. 

As  the  State  capital  had  been  the  rendezvous 
of  the  departing  regiments,  so  it  now  became  the 
gathering  place  of  those  returning  from  the  war. 

Its  best  friends  would  hardly  have  recognized 
the  old  Eleventh,  so  changed  was  its  organiza 
tion,  had  not  General  Coulter  and  one  or  two  of 
the  original  staff  officers  remained  to  prove  its 
identity.  One  of  its  field  officers-^Major  I.  B. 
Overmyer — and  most  of  the  line  officers  had  been 
promoted  from  the  ranks.  Even  the  drummer 
boys  had  grown  up  to  be  men,  and  came  back 
wearing  sword  and  epaulets. 

Those  promoted  out  of  our  ranks,  as  well  as 
those  in  them,  did  valuable  service  wherever 
they  were  placed.  Col.  II.  A.  Frink,  of  the  One- 
hundred-and-eighty-sixth  Regiment,  afterward 
breveted  brigadier- General,  will  be  remembered 

O  O 

as  the  efficient  provost-marshal  of  Philadelphia. 
Assistant  Surgeons  AY.  C.  Phclps  and  W.  F.  Os- 
borne — whose  places  were  filled  in  the  regiment 
by  Drs.  John  M.  Rankin  and  Charles  D.  Fortney 
— became  surgeons;  the  former  of  the  Twenty- 
second  Pennsylvania  Cavalry,  and  the  latter  of 
the  One-hundred-and-seventeenth  Infantry  Regi 
ment. 

Awaiting  our  arrival  in  Harrisburg  were  men 
who  had  been  absent  from  the  regiment  on  de 
tached  service,  or  sick  in  hospital,  sent  forward 


CAMP    CURTIX.  401 

to  be  mustered  out  of  service  with  their  several 
companies.  There  were  also  a  few  returned  from 
the  prisons  of  the  South,  among  whom  were 
Captain  A.  G.  Happer,  of  Co.  I,  and  Lieutenant 
Freeman  C.  Gay,  of  Co.  K.  Captain  Happer 
was  severely  wounded,  and  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  enemy  at  the  "battle  of  the  Wilderness. 
Lieutenant  Gay  was  captured  at  Gettysburg, 
and  remained  nearly  two  years  a  prisoner. 

More  than  three  thousand  men  were  enrolled 
in  the  ranks  of  the  Eleventh  daring  the  war. 
Less  than  three  hundred  marched  back  to  Camp 
Curtin  for  final  discharge.  Many  of  the  absent 
ones,  who  had  been  sent  home  because  of  dis 
ease,  or  the  severities  of  the  campaign,  or  of 
honorable  though  disabling  wounds,  could  have 
answered  to  their  names. had  there  been  a  calling 
of  the  roll.  But  the  rest  are  filling  graves  scat 
tered  from  Gettysburg  to  the  Appomattox,  from 
Annapolis  to  Andersonville,  and  will  only  answer 

"When  the  general  Roll  is  called." 

The  Story  of  the  Regiment  is  not  for  them. 
Its  pleasant  memories  or  sad  reminiscences  of 
marches  and  bivouacs,  and  of  battles  fought  and 
victories  won,  are  only  for  the  living. 

"On  fame's  eternal  camping-ground 

Their  silent  tents  are  spread; 
While  glory  keeps,  with  solemn  round, 
The  bivouac  of  the  dead." 

THE   END. 


3.3- 


\ 

<4 


\ 

*/;      4' 


. 


^ 


\  / 


\ 


